The heritage-listed Summer Hill building where hatted inner west favourite One Penny Red traded until late last year will reopen as a restaurant after one of Sydney’s leading Italian chefs, Alessandro Pavoni, snapped up the former post office site.

Pavoni, chef at Crown’s a’Mare restaurant, confirmed he is the mystery buyer of the building, along with his long-time business partner at Ormeggio at The Spit, restaurateur Bill Drakopoulos. “Bill and I are in it 50-50,” Pavoni says.

In mid-2024, Pavoni will launch Postino Osteria at the Moonbie Street site. “Postino means postman, it also means small place,” the chef explains.

“It feels like an Italian neighbourhood,” Pavoni says of the Summer Hill setting. “Every neighbourhood needs an osteria.”

One Penny Red served its last spanner crab sourdough crumpet on New Year’s Eve after a decade-long run. When the landlord placed the building on the market, locals feared it would be lost as a hospitality venue.

Pavoni says he and Drakopoulos were drawn to the building, which he describes as dominant on the strip. Pavoni possesses plenty of local intel, having lived nearby in Leichhardt when he moved to Australia from Italy. He’s confident Postino Osteria will fill a gap as both somewhere “to stop for a vino on your way home from work” or settle in for a meal.

The site already has drinks pedigree – One Penny Red also operated wine bar spin-off Vernon’s in the space.

Despite interest rates biting consumer spending, Pavoni remains confident in the Sydney restaurant landscape, arguing many restaurateurs are making the mistake of comparing current figures with the early post-COVID spending boom, something he regards as a one-off “like the Olympics”.

Pavoni will position Postino Osteria as a “casual and affordable” venue, tailored to its time and economic conditions. The site will get an “old-school” cosmetic renovation before its mid-July opening.

When One Penny Red closed last year, co-owner Nina Alidenes told Good Food the hatted restaurant wanted “to go out on top”, praising the “vibrant and close-knit” Summer Hill community.

“After the staffing crisis of 2022 and the wobble no one expected in 2023, I’m really positive about 2024,” Alidenes said. The Postino Osteria team will hope that proves sage forecasting.