Precious cargo locked in prison cells

From prison cells to wine cellars – for those looking for a secure home for their hard liquor several cells in Pentridge Prison’s notorious D-Division building are now for sale.

Pentridge Cellars business owners Paul Tardivel and Michael Woodworth purchased D-Division, on the corner of Urquhart St and Wardens Walk, three years ago.  A bluestone building built between 1887 and 1894, it once held Ronald Ryan the last man to be hanged in Australia, and Mark ‘Chopper’ Read.

The original developer had already secured a zoning fit for wine cellars when the businessmen encountered the property and envisaged its appeal to both history and wine buffs.

“We could see right away, how uniquely suited to wine storage it was and how, given some carefully considered upgrades, we could create a boutique storage solution for any serious collector fine wine,” Mr Tardivel said.

While there are 174 cells in the building, 63 have sold, and the pair have recently released another four to the market. The price of a bespoke cellar is $115,000 and according to Mr Tardivel, the Owners Corporation and council fees are no more than a $1000 per year.

“The advantage of the building is that it services the purpose of storing wine extremely well,” he explained.

“It has half a metre thick blue stone walls. And once the temperature in the cells becomes 13 degrees, the core of the walls will retain that. And that’s what you are looking for if you want to mature wine and keep wine stable in the years to come.”

Prospective buyers are offered a bespoke fit-out consisting of a temperature -controlled humidifier, customised racking and shelving for up to 2000 bottles. The cellars also come with CCTV security and swipe-cards for the owners – and they retain the original prison number on the heavy cell door.

Mr Tardivel said one of the joys for cellar-owners was the opportunity to host hosting friends and family for wine tastings in the historic building and share in the unique surroundings.

“The heritage covenant is a responsibility for all of us to look after this building and the precinct. And I’ve got to say the new cell owners feel exactly the same way.”

Retail strategy under pressure

The wine cellar business sits in Pentridge’s south-east precinct, but aligns well with the hyperlocal retail strategy applied by the Shayher Group in the development of the north-east precinct. The mixed-use redevelopment features the H, A and E Division buildings and the monumental Victorian façade.

With the exception of Palace Cinemas and Ritchie’s IGA, Stage 1 of the retail development shunned mainstream national brands for local retailers. The leasing manager at the time, Paul Reid from Colliers International, said:

“The Pentridge retail precinct was designed to thrive as a true destination, with intimate and open retail spaces on the ground floor enabling a vibrant restaurant café and bar culture. The vision for the retail precinct, which has flowed through to our leasing strategy, was to partner only with iconic local brands.”

He added that the main trade area population for the precinct was forecast to reach 186,400 people by the year 2026, with annual expenditure within this area expected to be $3.4billion.

Amid the backdrop of a pandemic, the retail development opened last November with space for 20-25 specialty stores, but a smaller number of tenants. Among the local traders who moved in, were Lucky Little Dumplings, Pelicana, Jacky Jones, Zen Home, Classic Barber, Lux Hair, Cielo Gelateria and Mela Patisserie owned by Mat Chila, a local resident and the former sous chef at Surrey Hill’s Zimt Patisserie.

When the doors of his own patisserie opened, Mr Chila spoke of the excitement of being part of the historic area’s revitalisation. Today, while he has kept those doors open, he is reliant on the state government’s COVID business subsidies to survive.

“In the climate that we are economically, and given a lot of the tenancies remain unleased and the shopping centre is holding off on doing a lot of marketing, I think we are doing OK,” he told realcommercial.com.au

“I’m running front of house and back of house at the same time and we have had to stand down a lot of our casual staff, so that has certainly made it difficult. But we have a lot of loyal regulars coming in to keep our head above water. And are still able to open every day. That’s the main thing.”

The bespoke cellars on offer retail for $115,000. Picture: realcommercial.com.au/leased

Mr Chila said he trusted his long-term vision for his business and the centre.

“Once everything is up and running and COVID is at bay we will be fine,” he said positively. “But it’s muddling through the last 12 months and probably the next six to eight months until everybody is vaccinated.”

The current leasing director James Batrouney of Myon Property Group, told realcommercial.com.au: “By Christmas you will notice a substantial difference in the number of operators.”

He admitted COVID had made the hyperlocal leasing strategy harder as lockdowns affected “mum and dad operators more than they do national brands.” But it had not dented Shayher Group’s progress.

“The hotel, the pub, the residential apartments – all that has been steaming ahead,” he said.

While refusing to disclose the number of retail leases available at Pentridge, Mr Batrouney said a substantial number of offers were out and leases had been issued with a number of retailers yet to take handover.

“What COVID does is that you lose the time. Some retailers are holding off making decisions until there are bluer skies. That said, we have been very fortunate with the interest in Pentridge and the owners want to make sure the mix is right and they are not in a rush to just do any deal,” he said.

By June next year, a pub would  open on the 800sqm tenancy opposite the shopping centre, along with the 120-room Adina Hotel, Mr Batrouney said.

The 6.7ha heritage site is expected to hold more than 1500 residential apartments once the redevelopment is complete.