NEWCASTLE
Expressions of Interest
Address: 140 King Street.
CBD building: Residential and retail premises over three levels on 298 square metres.
Inspect: By appointment.
Price guide: More than $2 million.
Agents: Kate Rundle, Walkom Real Estate, 0418 682 377 and Andrew Walker, Street Property Group, 0402 009 532.
THE street address itself may not readily identify the stunning three-level building which has graced this location for more than a century, but the name of the business which has resided within for the past 15 years no doubt will.
Villa Clone, the eclectic retail business of Brian Bird and Ron Maitland, occupies the ground floor of this very beautiful building which also has a gorgeous apartment on the top floor.
Bird and Maitland have decided it's time to be doing something different and while officially they have "no plans", they are selling the entire kit and kaboodle - the building and the business.
Built in 1906 as two retail warehouses, the building has over its time lain vacant, housed fortified wines, been the venue for the procurement of teas and cigars, and the top floor was even the site of a tea liquoring room, where you could blend your own tea leaves.
That was some time back, though, and more recently it was home to Pizza Hut for two and half decades.
Vacant when Bird and Maitland bought it at auction, they have since done a historically sensitive renovation which has brought the very best out of the building.
Not heritage listed, but in a heritage zone, it comprises a basement, the 250-square-metre retail floor with kitchen and amenities, and the top floor, which offers more than 250 square metres of living space, a gorgeous central glass atrium with 12-metre high oregon beams and a colonnade of brick archways separating the spaces.
A beautiful readaptation of what is a huge space, the apartment has the original tallowood flooring and wide arched windows fronting the treed canopy on King Street.
Stunning natural light has been captured through the atrium and air flow from the north-south directions of the windows is controlled via a set of huge, hand-made timber doors.
The master bedroom has an en suite and a connected room which is currently being used as a walk-in robe.
There are two other bedrooms as well as a main bathroom and a study tucked away behind the living area.
The kitchen offers all of the features you would expect in a space which is well suited to entertaining, and there are both formal and informal spaces for dining as well as a large laundry room.
A secure car space across the road is available if required.
