Joe Avati: International comedian making multiple property moves around Melbourne

Joe Avati is completing works on multiple homes around Melbourne.

International comedy star Joe Avati is going big with a home renovation side hustle.

The award-winning funnyman and his wife Natalie are weeks away from works finishing a pair of Preston townhouses they’ve had in development since purchasing the site during the Covid pandemic.

He’s also just launched a new Instagram handle for the upcoming overhaul of his Hawthorn East home, to be named Elimatta — an Indigenous word for “my home”.

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Often compared to Jerry Seinfeld, in 2012 he became Australia’s biggest selling comic internationally, and notched the highest sales for a bilingual (English and Italian) comedian in the world. He has 194,000 followers on Instagram.

Avati’s plans to renovate have attracted wide interest after he revealed an extension would feature its own “old school” delicatessen with meat curing and cheese fridges, a 1920s French-style cocktail bar, a wine cellar modelled on those he’s seen in Florence, Italy, and a wellness centre.

“People are fascinated by the process, and it will also give people an insight into how you renovate a home with significant heritage and give it a modern, but sympathetic extension at the back of it,” Avati said.

The Preston home that Avati has demolished and is replacing with townhouses.

Inside the old Preston property.

“We have to keep the first 10m and two rooms on the sides of the home as part of the heritage, and they will need to be propped up as then we need to dig the basement in.

“And I’ve had lots of people ask me about the size of the shoe closet more than anything.”

A recent one-week comedy tour in Europe turned into a month-long stay as he looked for inspiration for the Hawthorn East reno.

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In the coming months they will be displaying some of their future home’s renders to @joeavati_home on Instagram, but will add videos and time-lapse photography once work starts.

Avati is also hoping to list a pair of double-storey townhouses for sale within the next month or two, after developing a dated old home about 150m from the Preston market over the past four years.

BEFORE: Comedian Joe Avati’s Hawthorn home, which is set for a major renovation.

What the Hawthorn East is set to look like upon completion.

“We started back in the Covid era, which did set us back, but we are back on track and we will be selling them soon,” he said.

“We have tried to giver everyone their own spaces, so each has its own ensuite. There’s also rear lane access with a double garage.”

Avati has drawn inspiration for the design of his Hawthorn property from his extended stays in Europe.

The delay has proven beneficial in some respects, as Avati had started off looking for space to develop in a “bridesmaid suburb” — picking Preston as the next to further gentrify after Thornbury.

However, that shift has largely already happened, allowing them to push the level of finishes in the homes to include extra bathrooms, steam ovens and bigger island benches in the kitchens.

Joe Avati will be playing shows across the state from May to July.

The homes feature open-plan living areas downstairs, with bedrooms and bathrooms upstairs.

Joe Avati has upcoming Victorian shows as part of the Comedy Cartel Tour in Wodonga, Warrnambool and Geelong during May.

There will be shows in Melbourne from South Morang to Thornbury and Narre Warren during July.

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