Former Mossgreen auction house for lease
The former Armadale premises of antiques and art auction house Mossgreen, which entered administration late last year, is for lease.
The historic building at 926-930 High Street (pictured top, left and bottom), formerly the Armadale Picture Theatre, only sold to Melbourne QC John Karkar 14 months ago.
Recently refurbished, the double storey Art Nouveau complex includes 1400 square metres of lettable area which the marketing agents say can be configured as offices or retail.
Part of the building was occupied as a tea room operated by Mossgreen with high-profile Melbourne chef Peter Rowland.
The property sits within a popular and affluent retail strip amongst neighbours including Aesop, Mecca, Scanlon Theodore, Sportscraft, Sheridan and Thomas Dux.
It includes 15 car spaces, and also adjoins a council car park.
Colliers International’s Kevin Tutty and Damien Adkins are marketing the building penned by architects Klingender and Alsop and which opened as a cinema in 1912. The same designers created the historic Kooyong Road, Toorak mansion, Glyn, which sold for $11 million in late 2016.
Mr Karkar paid $10 million for 926-930 High Street, on a 1221 sqm holding, a deal which reflected a 4.8 per cent passing yield. During last year’s sales campaign the investment was marketed with a long-lease to Mossgreen, whose branding is still on the building. The building previously traded for $5.06 million in 2012.
Mossgreen collapsed, reportedly with $12 million in debt to 400 creditors including Toorak businessman Jack Gringlas and several clients, for which it had sold antiques.
Prior to Mossgreen, the Armadale building was occupied by another auction house, Sotheby’s.
