Melbourne Central is a large shopping centre, office, and public transport hub in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was designed by Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa, and opened in 1991.
The complex includes the Melbourne Central Shopping Centre, which was refurbished in 2005 by architects ARM Architecture; Melbourne Central railway station (part of the City Loop underground railway and formerly called Museum Station); and the high Melbourne Central Office Tower with its distinctive pair of communications masts. The shopping centre features a large glass cone, which houses the heritage-listed Coop's Shot Tower.
The Melbourne Central shopping and office development was constructed between 1986 and 1991 by Japanese firm Kumagai Gumi at a cost of $1.2 billion. The original anchor tenant was the Japanese department store Daimaru, which opened its first Australian store over six floors located between the shot tower and La Trobe Street.
The centre features a gross leasable area of and is owned by GPT Group.
History
Large scale redevelopment of the city block bounded by Lonsdale, Swanston, La Trobe and Elizabeth Streets was studied in some detail during the 1960s and 1970s, being closely linked with work on the City Loop underground railway. Early work on the site commenced in 1971 when land on the south side of La Trobe Street was acquired, to enable the cut and cover construction of Museum Station (now known as Melbourne Central). With planning for the site being carried out by the Melbourne Underground Rail Loop Authority from 1980, the railway station opened in 1981, but protracted negotiations failed to find an anchor tenant for the development, resulting in the State Government of Victoria deciding in 1983 that a private developer should be sought. By the time registrations closed in March 1984 a total of 28 submissions had been received from developers, with eight selected organisations invited to respond. A government panel sat in April 1985 to evaluate the responses, and one month later announced their preferred scheme: designed by Hassell Architects for EKG Developments, a joint venture between Australian property developer Essington Limited and Japanese construction firm Kumagai Gumi. The project compromised an 85 floor office tower, with a hotel at the Swanston Street end, joined by a huge sloping walled atrium 20 floors high, over a shopping atrium opening down to the station platforms, designed by Hassell.
The contract was signed soon after but without Essington Limited, who were removed by the State Government after a number of directors were linked to the Nugan Hand Bank. It was also at this time that Kisho Kurokawa was brought on board as architect, with Hassell and Bates, Smart & McCutcheon compensated by becoming the joint documenters of the scheme. It was also scaled back, with the hotel removed, and the office tower reduced to 72 storeys and then 55, and the atrium reduce to a tall cone, and a circular opening through the shopping levels. An arm of shops connecting to Lonsdale Street was also added, replacing 19th century warehouses, and via footbridges connected through to the Myer store. An anchor tenant was also found, with Japanese department store Daimaru signed on due to the involvement of the Japanese Sumitomo Bank on the project.
Melbourne Central opened in 1991, with the large Daimaru store attempting to compete with local, established department stores Myer and David Jones. The centre never became profitable for owner Kumagai Gumi, who sold 97.1 per cent to Australian property manager GPT Group for $408 million in 1999, retaining 2.9 per cent to write the asset off over 20 years. Kumugai abandoned this plan in 2001, selling their remaining share to GPT for $17 million. Daimaru closed their department store in 2002, paying five years' rent ($30 million) in return for abandoning their lease commitment which ended in 2016. Daimaru never turned a profit on the store, costing its shareholders approximately $200 million.