Vermont General Store: Julien Moussi puts new cafe building up for auction

One of Melbourne’s hospitality stars is set to boost his coffers even more by selling the building housing his latest cafe in the backstreets of Vermont.

Julien Moussi is selling the Vermont General Store’s building after he recently opened to a strong response in early October. Picture: Nicki Connolly

A refurbished milk bar is back on the market two months after it was reborn as a trendy cafe.

But Julien Moussi’s Vermont General Store isn’t going anywhere, with the Melbourne hospitality star promising to stay as a long-term tenant at 37 Centre Rd, Vermont.

Mr Moussi’s Only Hospitality Group bought the building and revamped the bottom level and its upstairs residence, with the cafe opening in early October during Melbourne’s lockdown.

According to a post on its Facebook page, it had 3000 customers visit for takeaway coffee and snacks in its first five days.

Jones Real Estate is selling the building at auction next month, which comes with a guaranteed a 10-year lease from the general store, with further options beyond 2032.

Mr Moussi will also manage the rent of the top-level residence above the cafe, with the building’s new owner set to earn $73,500 in rental income per year across the two floors.

Jones Real Estate senior executive Sam Guest said Mr Moussi had developed a smart model in which he could remain as a tenant and use the building’s sale to explore new opportunities to expand his business empire.

His group has been a huge Covid-19 business success story and its portfolio includes cafes, bakeries, the Hotel Collingwood and the Inglewood Coffee Roastery.

“With interest rates so slow, it’s popular for people to purchase property, do works as an owner-occupier and then offload the building,” Mr Guest said.

“Julien has confidence in the store, he’s guaranteed on it himself over the lease, and as someone with 20 venues in Victoria, the guarantee is priceless.

“It’s a building that presents really well, has attractive lease terms and a very attractive tenant.”

Mr Guest said the agency had received more than 30 inquires on the property so far with investors from “Vermont to The Philippines”, and expected it to sell for above $1m.

The auction is to be held on site on Friday, December 10 at 1pm.