Iconic Chapel St antique store McPhee’s sold to developer

A developer has paid $4.25 million to secure one of Chapel Street’s most iconic retail stores – McPhee’s Fine Antiques, which has been a part of the Melbourne strip for 116 years.

McPhee’s, one of Melbourne’s most well-known antique dealers, put its store at 202-204 Chapel St on the market in August, sparking a flurry of interest from investors and developers.

Selling agents Tom Maule and Matthew Feld, from Teska Carson, say a well-known developer and investor trumped the field to secure the property, with plans redevelop the site with both retail and residential.

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The site is zoned Commercial 1 and featured a double-fronted, two-level building in near-original condition and spanning 497sqm of floorspace, and has 414sqm of land.

McPhee’s has been a Chapel St staple for more than a century.

McPhee’s began trading around the corner on High St in 1901 before shifting to its current location in 1924.

As part of the sale agreement, the store will continue at the Chapel St store for another 18 months, before moving to a yet to be chosen location.

Maule says the property represented an incredibly rare opportunity.

“This was one of those properties which obviously comes up extremely rarely, in this case 93 years, and one which provided purchasers with enormous potential for mixed-use development in an area which has seen very strong demand.”

The Prahran property is expected to be redeveloped for retail and residential.

Renowned for its array of antiques, but particularly its collection of 18th century English furniture, the shop has been a Chapel St mainstay amid an ever changing and evolving retail landscape on the popular strip.

Duncan McPhee, who runs the antique store with his brother Shaun after the property and business were passed down through their family, says with the surrounding tenant mix now mostly cafes, bars and entertainment venues, the time had come to move on.

“Things have changed quite a bit over the last 100 years on Chapel St. We are now seeking a more appropriate address – an address which we hope will be home to the business for many more years to come,” McPhee says.

The site spans more than 400sqm in the prime Chapel St retail precinct.

Feld says there is no shortage of buyers desperate to grab a slice of the action on Chapel St.

“This was an opportunity to get a foothold in what has historically been a very well regarded and very tightly held strip with an enviable aura and reputation driven by an eclectic mix of tenancies from cafes to restaurants to bars and entertainment venues, boutique fashion houses to the Chapel Street Bazaar, The Jam Factory and Prahran Market,” he says.

“The list goes on. If you get an opportunity to buy in this part of Chapel Street you take it.”