Melbourne Central

Melbourne Central shot tower, underneath the iconic glass cone

The "Batman" building

Melbourne Central is a large shopping, office, and public transport hub in the city of Melbourne, Australia. The complex includes the Melbourne Central Shopping Centre which was thoroughly refurbished in 2005; the Melbourne Central railway station (a part of the City Loop underground railway and formerly called Museum); and the 211 m high office tower known to locals as the 'Batman building' due to its distinctive black colour and bat-like communications masts. Hoyts Cinemas opened a luxurious state of the art cinema complex in 2005 at the upper levels of the retailing space formerly occupied by the failed Japanese department store, Daimaru, and Hoyts is joined by an array of bars, nightclubs and shopping facilities which equally rival and exceed the range which might be found in a typical suburban shopping mall.

Contained underneath the shopping centre's massive glass cone sits the Coop's Shot Tower which was built on the site between 1889 and 1890. It ceased to be used in 1960. The tower was retained to become a focal-point of the centre.

The renovated centre, with a design, by architects Ashton Raggatt McDougall, has opened the complex up with more natural light, new street-front shopping strips, and a new bubble-like footbridge to the adjacent Myer department store.

The original design of the shopping centre, office tower, and railway station was by Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa. The shopping centre's original primary tenant was the first Australian branch of the Daimaru department store, which closed in 2003 after a decade of unprofitable operation. Daimaru also briefly had an operation on the Gold Coast in Queensland, which also failed.

Tall buildings in Melbourne
Next Shortest Freshwater Place	Next Tallest 120 Collins Street
Heights are to roof.
Tall buildings in Australia

See also

• Tall buildings in Melbourne

External link

• Shopping complex official website