![25 Beissel St, Richmond - for herald sun real estate (high res)](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1280 720"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
25 Beissel St, Richmond, sold for $2.354m at a weekend auction.
A Melbourne expat who has just sold the home he renovated with his late father has revealed the “sad story” behind it after a $2.354m auction battle between six bidders.
Sam Klingner said he never expected to sell the 25 Beissel St, Richmond, home after falling in love with the former bakery more than a decade ago, but wound up relocating to Germany for work.
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“I had built it to live in and things just turned out that way,” Mr Klingner said.
“So it’s a bit like a life that could have been.”
But he still hung onto it for more than a decade, only deciding to sell when the tenant he put into the property 10 years ago decided to move on.
“The last tenants looked after it extremely well, and we got lucky with them,” Mr Klingner said.
“It was either try to find another like them, or sell.”
But if his life had turned out slightly differently he might well still be living in the three-bedroom, three-storey warehouse conversion, complete with a salvaged crane hook once used as part of a block and tackle to raise heavy flour sacks into the building.
The warehouse conversation was once a bakery and gives little away of its impressive interior.
But step inside and the home’s transformation offers polished living arrangements.
He said the building reminded him of the old crane houses of Antwerp in Belgium, which created his love of warehouse living.
“So this resonated with all the exposed brick and steel and the huge windows,” he said.
Mr Klingner added that he’d had a complicated connection with the home which ended up being a “bit of a sad story”.
He bought the property with a former partner, and worked through its renovation with his late father.
“He (Mr Klingner’s father) really loved it and it was a bit of a passion project for the two of us,” he said.
The home’s design was perfected after dealing with multiple experts, with Attic Building Design’s Nik Valentine eventually overseeing it.
While most of the former bakery was solid, Norfolk pine floors on the upper level had worn down and they ended up “ripping up the floor” for most of it.
Behind plaster put in by interim owners, they also uncovered old scorch marks from the property’s time as a bakery starting in about 1920.
The property’s kitchen still retains exposed brick walls and has exposed timber beams above.
A curtain separates one of the bedrooms from an ensuite, with brickwork a constant theme.
Jellis Craig’s Elliot Gill said a mix of young professionals, downsizers and one investor were among six bidders for the property, signalling the appreciation for Mr Klingner’s exacting renovation, the history of the building and the broader appeal of warehouse living.
The home attracted a cheeky $1.3m opening offer, quickly upgraded to $1.9m with a vendor bid counter.
“It had some real x-factor to it,” he said.
“Particularly one like this, that is freestanding.”
“The reality is they could buy something for less, but they like the x-factor.”
Mr Gill said it had been at least a year since he’d had six bidders, and the home’s sale was “probably the exception to the rule”.
It was one of the professionals that claimed the keys, and they were every excited about the home being a warehouse conversion.
The main living area upstairs opens to a deck for indoor-outdoor entertainment.
The design maximises city views as well as boosting the sense of space.
“But it’s a good finish to the year,” he said.
“I don’t feel like there’s any FOMO in the Richmond market, but a lot of auctions are still selling in negotiation. And most of the properties that are still sitting on the market are now being considered by buyers, though wouldn’t have been two or three weeks ago.
“So it feels like there’s plenty of life in the market, it’s just very price sensitive. And if buyers don’t agree on price, they just don’t come.”
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