This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
THE historic McPhee’s Fine Antiques shop on Chapel Street in Prahran has sold under the hammer for $4.25 million to a private local investor and developer.
The sale also marks the end of the family-run business’s 116-year history in Prahran, having started around the corner in High Street in 1901 and spending the last 93 years at the just-sold 200-202 Chapel Street site.
It comprises a two-level, double-fronted building in 497 sqm on a 414 sqm site zoned Commercial 1, with 11 metres of street frontage.
Teska Carson’s Tom Maule and Matthew Feld sold the property.
Maule said the purchaser was looking to maximise the potential of a site with one of Melbourne’s most sought after residential and commercial addresses.
McPhee’s will continue trading from the site for the next 18 months as it looks for a new home.
Duncan McPhee, who currently operates the business with brother Sean, said the sale had been driven by the transformation of Chapel Street’s retail offering over recent years, becoming a destination for cafes, restaurants, bars, and other entertainment venues.
“Things have changed quite a bit over the last 100 years on Chapel Street. We are now seeking a more appropriate address, an address which we hope will be home to the business for many more years to come,” McPhee said.
McPhees was established by George McPhee, who oversaw the business’s move to Chapel Street in 1924, and typically deals with early furniture in the English taste of the 18thcentury, into the Regency period and through George IV era.
Feld said Prahran was undergoing a development phase that had seen the local population rise markedly in line with Melbourne’s nation leading growth.
“This was an opportunity to get a foothold in what has historically been a very well regarded and very tightly held strip with an enviable aura and reputation driven by an eclectic mix of tenancies from cafes to restaurants to bars and entertainment venues, boutique fashion houses to the Chapel Street Bazaar, The Jam Factory and Prahran Market.”
Australian Property Journal
