Historic Melbourne buildings home to city’s largest bar and games venue is for sale
Want to own a collection of historic buildings in the heart of Melbourne’s Chinatown where the city’s largest bar and games venue would be your tenants? See inside.
A Melbourne commercial site home to the city’s largest bar and games venue, Ballers Clubhouse, is on the market with a $50m-plus price tag.
The entertainment emporium takes up more than 2500sq m within three interconnected buildings at 146-158 Bourke St and 139 Little Bourke St, which are being offered for sale as a single entity.
Consisting of five freehold titles, other tenants include the outdoor clothing, camping and hiking retailer Paddy Pallin and teppanyaki restaurant Ginza.
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The 1909sq m property generates more than $1.6m in total rental income per year.
Ryder Commercial managing director Mark Ryder is managing the listing along with
colleagues David Gibellini and Paul Sberna.
Mr Ryder said the vendors, a family, have owned the location since 1990.
“Rarely does such a large landholding with a major Bourke St frontage become available in the premier eastern end of the CBD, in the heart of Chinatown with other significant street and lane frontages creating an island site,” Mr Ryder said.
Mr Ryder said that he expected investors and developers to be among the interested buyers.
The Melbourne buildings were formerly home to Pattersons Furniture Warehouse.
In 1934, they were rebuilt in the moderne style – an architectural technique closely related to Art Deco that was popular from the 1920s to the 1940s – under the leadership of architect Arthur W Purnell, who also designed the MCG’s Olympic stand, Elizabeth St’s Michael’s Corner, Hardware Lane’s Cyclone House and a Whitten Oval grandstand.
Under Melbourne City Council’s planning scheme, 152-158 Bourke St is classified as being of local historic and aesthetic importance due to its association with Purnell and manufacturing and retailing within the city.
The main five-storey Bourke St building has previously been occupied by the Virgin Mega Store, Allans Music and Billy Hydes Music.
In 2020, Ballers Clubhouse opened their flagship Melbourne venue within the site.
The clubhouse’s website describes the business as “the most legendary social club in the Southern Hemisphere”.
Ballers is home to six bars, 10 private functions spaces, 15 ping pong tables, six stand-up shuffleboards, four shuffleboard courts, 16 interactive darts booths, an open-air patio, cabanas and interactive entertainment.
It even offers glow in the dark tennis and ball pit karaoke, and has other venues in Carlton and Adelaide.
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Originally published as Historic Melbourne buildings home to city’s largest bar and games venue is for sale
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