{"id":55054,"date":"2026-07-21T06:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T06:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/55054\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T06:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T06:50:10","slug":"work-begins-on-170-million-melbourne-central-refurbishment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/55054\/","title":{"rendered":"Work begins on $170 million Melbourne Central refurbishment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Construction has started on the $170 million expansion of Melbourne Central, which will bring new retail, dining and entertainment offerings upon completion.<\/p>\n<p>The expansion will deliver approximately 7800sqm of additional retail space across levels 3 and 4, bringing the centre\u2019s total to approximately 63,000sqm.<\/p>\n<p>The refurbishment will feature Melbourne\u2019s first flagship Books Kinokuniya store, alongside a large-format entertainment hub, new dining zones and more than 10 new food retailers.<\/p>\n<p>The flagship CBD centre will also be reimagined as an 18\/7 extended trading hour destination to meet the demand of Melbourne\u2019s growing nighttime economy.<\/p>\n<p>Melbourne Central currently boasts annual sales of more than $700 million and 100 per cent occupancy, attracting more than 55 million visitors each year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Spanning two city blocks between Lonsdale and La Trobe Streets, the centre is <a href=\"https:\/\/insideretail.com.au\/stores\/openings-closings\/melbourne-central-unveils-fresh-retail-lineup-led-by-adidas-and-miniso-friends-202607\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">home to more than 260 retailers<\/a> across five levels.<\/p>\n<p>The GPT Group, the centre\u2019s developer, said the project reflects its strategic focus on creating high-performing destinations that respond to evolving customer needs and support long-term growth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith Melbourne CBD retail sales exceeding $3.9 billion annually and consumers increasingly seeking out experience-led destinations, we are seeing strong demand for high-quality entertainment, leisure and dining offerings in the city,\u201d said Chris Barnett, head of retail at The GPT Group.<\/p>\n<p>The expansion is scheduled to be completed in 2028.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Construction has started on the $170 million expansion of Melbourne Central, which will bring new retail, dining and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55055,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[51658,260,30070],"class_list":["post-55054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-gpt-group","tag-melbourne","tag-melbourne-central"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}