The former prison cell now known as 4120/4 Wardens Walk, Coburg, has made history as the first cell auctioned from the old Pentridge Prison.
Pentridge Prison has hosted some of the hardest criminals in Aussie history, from Ned Kelly and Mark “Chopper” Read to Russel St bomber Craig Minogue.
But yesterday it had a new chapter in its history written: the first time a cell that held some of the city’s worst villains went to auction.
It was one of the 404 properties sold among the 715 reported auction results across the city yesterday, with a 56.5 per cent clearance rate.
RELATED: Coburg Pentridge prison cell wine cellar listed for $85k
Melb tower with Underbelly past lands $154m deal
Worrying numbers of Melb sellers cancel auctions
The former lock up, now known as 4120/4 Wardens Walk in the old D Division of the penitentiary, got a single bid under the hammer at $80,000, then sold in post-auction negotiations for $81,000 to a Melbourne woman who has been a semi-regular at events among the cells and figured she might as well own one.
But there were two other bidders in the offings, including one dialled in remotely from an oil rig off the coast of Western Australia.
![Ex-Pentridge Prison cell turned wine cellar auction - for herald sun real estate](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 1280 720"%3E%3C/svg%3E)
THe old Pentridge Prison’s D Block has been turned into wine cellaring.
Inside, the prison is unmistakable for what is used to be — but has had a bit of a glow up.
Ray White’s Raphael Calik-Houston and Saha Sahardid handled the sale and said it had been a great result for the vendor who lived too far too make use of the cell turned wine cellar themselves, but also to show that even with a slew of Reserve Bank interest rate hikes and a troubling federal budget for property investors, properties of all kind are still selling.
“I think we just made history, me and Raph,” Mr Sahardid said.
“It’s a great result, and it will be one of those that I believe shows that for any property out there, there will be a buyer who wants it to move into a property, or to buy a cell.
“It’s the Aussie dream to own a piece of land or a piece of history and I don’t know that the budget or interest rates will stop that.”
The D Division of Pentridge Prison once held an array of crooks and crims.
These days, it’s a little more refined.
And it might not be the last cell sold in the near future, with at least two more potentially set to be offered to buyers off market in the weeks ahead.
Sign up to the Herald Sun Weekly Real Estate Update. Click here to get the latest Victorian property market news delivered direct to your inbox.
MORE: The Block’s top investor Danny Wallis slams ‘s**t show’ budget
