Exceptions always prove the rule, but on a general basis, Australian centres perform better than any of their international counterparts. Melbourne Central is Australia’s best performing ‘Big Gun’ centre in terms of turnover per square metre and therefore one of the best in the world. It’s testimony to the expertise of the teams that develop, manage and market our centres. The following article is compulsory reading for marketing and management executives.

The much publicised ‘death of bricks-and-mortar retail’ has led to a reinvention rather than demise. It has driven shopping centre managers to overhaul the way centres look, function and interact with customers; putting them back at the heart of our businesses and striving to create authentic experiences that meet their ever-evolving needs. The industry response to this is evident in the way product, place and programming are stretching beyond the traditional and transforming into open, multi use, multi day-part lifestyle destinations.

The Mickey exhibition

However, as much as we evolve, there are still areas within centres that are dead space. A carved-up tenancy, a dog leg at the end of a reconfigured precinct, rooftop space, vacant walls, shops, corridors, underused carparks or storage; dead space comes in many forms. In a world where every square metre in our shopping centres is precious, leveraging the fine balance of generating income versus experience (and finding the space for these experiences) is a constant challenge – even when considering what becomes of ‘dead space’.

Reinventing these spaces into unique activations, capitalising on them to transform ailing spaces into new purposes and identifying new experiential or leasable space is a challenge for every team.

Melbourne Central has a long history of reinvention and transformation and despite the ever evolving and always challenging approach, it is not immune to the dead space quandary. Keeping true to the customer, Melbourne Central has repurposed dead space into areas of intended dwell, leveraged art to drive frequency and created must do experiences.

That said, the dead space battle is never truly won, because as one space evolves, another opportunity presents itself.

Coops Lane

Hidden behind the iconic Shot Tower, Coops Lane was a forgotten space. Mistreated by patrons from the adjoining bar, the area posed a host of social and security issues. Given the proximity to the iconic tower, high traffic and perception impacts, the site needed urgent attention.

With its brick façade, soaring wall space and unique configuration, Coops Lane felt like an undiscovered gallery space and in mid 2018, that’s exactly what Coops Lane became. From 2016, the site housed a History of Melbourne Central exhibition, displaying archive images of the evolution of the centre. In 2018, the space found a new calling – a pop culture art haunt.

Partnering with local art curator Eddie Zammit and Disney, Coops Lane was transformed into a unique exhibition space with an amazing opportunity to be part of the global celebration of the 90th anniversary of Mickey Mouse. Celebrating Mickey in a truly Melbourne Central way, 90 local and international artists were invited to create their interpretation of Mickey.

The Mickey exhibition opened in mid-November 2018, and in its four-month run, attracted nearly 30,000 visitors to a previously unvisited space. The exhibition generated a media reach of more than 4.6 million, across 1,000 user generated posts and more than 30 media hits.

Leveraging the success of the Mickey exhibition, in March 2019 the space was transformed again for International Women’s Day with the Iconic Women exhibition – where four local artists embellished 50 iconic images by famous UK photographer Terry O’Neil.

This space has now been established as a bespoke exhibition space within the centre, and will continue to host exhibitions on an ongoing basis. All exhibitions focus on celebrating pop culture through art. A celebration of 80 years of Marvel is the next exhibition which will launch in June 2019.

St Jerome’s The Hotel & Reunion Island Pool Club

Barren and unused, the rooftop above Melbourne Central presented a huge opportunity. With no direct access or services, the space remained untouched for years – that is, until 2015 when the space was converted into one of Melbourne’s must do experiences, St Jerome’s The Hotel.

Converting the unused rooftop space to generate income was a win, but the PR it generated on a local and international level was a bonus. St Jerome’s The Hotel opened in March 2015 and gave customers a unique opportunity to ‘glamp’ (glamorous camp) on the rooftop, in the middle of the city and with an uninterrupted view of the stars. With international and local appeal, the activation had a highly successful run until April 2018. New customers – international, interstate and local – were introduced to Melbourne Central for the first time ever and enabled cross promotion with the centre retailers.

Despite the success, the need for continual evolution endured. The Reunion Island Pool Club was a new concept proposed by Jerome, to re-ignite interest in the space from a social media and PR perspective. Opening early 2019, the space again has been reinvigorated with appeal to a new customer, capitalising on the summer heat and leveraging FOMO, The Reunion Island Pool Club has become the new must do Melbourne experience.

Reunion Island Pool Club

Link Bridges

Lacking personality, sparsely furnished and cold, the Link Bridges at Melbourne Central were not unlike any other centre. Given the proximity to RMIT as well as being well located in the CBD, the Link Bridges were in dire need of an added purpose. But what?

In line with capital investment the link bridges connecting Melbourne Central with Emporium over two levels (Level 1 and Level 2), were identified as a key opportunity to create a vibrant civic space, to support retail trade in the area but also create an informal and free co-working space. Completed in September 2018, with Wi-Fi, power, seating and privacy nooks, it didn’t take long for the re-energised bridges to be filled with people tapping away on laptops, conducting informal meetings or studying.

So embraced has the space become, that recently the Level 1 Link Bridge thoroughfare has become recognised as one of Melbourne’s best free co-working spaces. The Level 2 Link Bridge has become a green oasis, offering respite from the busy urban surrounds. Retailers adjacent to the bridges on both levels have seen incremental sales growth because of this investment in the public realm.