Peter Lechte’s family is selling a CBD laneway after decades of ownership. Picture: Jason Edwards

A PIECE of Melbourne’s world-famous laneway culture is up for grabs.

A small strip off Niagara Lane, between Little Bourke and Lonsdale Sts, is for sale for the first time in 70 years, with $600,000 price expectations.

The rare 59sq m parcel of CBD land is unnamed, giving whoever buys it the honour of choosing a title for it.

It’s also vacant, offering the flexibility to transform it into a retail space, car parking, or a trendy hospitality business.

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The lane has $600,000 price expectations.

“You could build an outdoor bar there, or just let your imagination run wild,” Colliers International Victoria selling agent Chris Ling said.

“It’s a completely blank site.”

The laneway has belonged to prominent Melbourne family the Lechtes for decades.

Alan Lechte took ownership of it in 1948, when he bought the nearby St Francis Hotel and several warehouses.

He later sold the hotel but decided to keep the laneway, which was on a separate title, as a connection to the city where the family had lived.

The lane is in a prime CBD position.

Alan’s son — co-director of developer Lechte Corporation, Peter Lechte — said while the site was “only small”, there weren’t “many of them sold now”.

“You could create a little bar there — this is what’s happening to Melbourne’s laneways,” he said.

Mr Ling said buyers were already bombarding him with inquiries about the lane, among them investors and CBD-based hospitality operators, as it was “tough” to secure land in the city.

The property, marketed as R1 Niagara Lane, has capital city zoning permitting uses including retail, hospitality, offices and residential.

It’s being offered via an expressions of interest campaign closing at noon on May 29.

charlotte.durut@news.com.au

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