THE site of Newcastle's long-running speakeasy bar, Coal and Cedar, has sold at auction.
The Evatt Chambers building at 380 Hunter Street in Newcastle was snapped up by a Newcastle-based investor for $1.6 million.
The fully-leased building earns an annual net income of $101,766 from tenants Coal and Cedar and The Lincoln Room barber shop on the ground floor, and an occupied office space on the second level.
The downstairs lease is in place until March 2029 and the commercial space upstairs has a lease until March 2025.
Listing agents Isaac Reville and Brad Crouch from Commercial Collective marketed the sale of the property which drew early interest from Sydney-based investors.
However, it came down to two registered bidders at auction, both of whom were investors from the Newcastle area.
"The bidding started off at $1.45 million and we had four bids and ended up finishing at $1.6 million," Mr Reville said.
"That was the bottom end of the guide and it was just shy of our reserve, but it went for a 6.3 per cent return which was still a good outcome.
"It was still a tight yield for the current market."
The art deco building, which dates back to the 1920s, was last sold in August 2012 for $325,000, according to CoreLogic records.
Coal and Cedar, which was named Australia's Best Regional Bar in 2016, celebrated its 10th anniversary earlier this month.
It was one of two successful auctions for Mr Reville who also oversaw the listing of a commercial investment site at 175 Maitland Road in Mayfield occupied by long-running tenant, Domino's Pizza.
The site earns an annual net income of $61,944.68.
The three registered parties were investors from Newcastle who started the bidding at $800,000.
All parties were active in competitive bidding across 15 bids which pushed it to the eventual sale price of $950,000.
"The price point was attractive as it was under $1 million, so it seemed to within a price range for those investors that are just coming into the market," he said.
The property was offloaded 21 years after the seller purchased the site in 2003 for $360,000.
Mr Reville said the investor sector across Newcastle was gaining momentum after a lull in 2023.
"The first six months of last year was a real struggle to get commercial property away but the market seems to be a lot stronger and we are getting a lot more interest in the investor sector," he said.
"It seems to be in the last four to six months there are a lot more investors in the market and they are starting to pay tight yields again.
"Buyers have come to terms with the fact interest rates are where they are and they're not getting as higher returns but they're still seeing the property market is strong."
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