By Cara Waters
Melbourne’s “East End”, at the top of Bourke Street, is undergoing a revival with the opening of Chris Lucas’ four-storey Maison Batard restaurant this week and several other venues preparing to open their doors.
The precinct struggled to attract visitors since COVID lockdowns, but big-name hospitality groups are making significant investments in its revival. The O’Brien Group is set to open Juliet’s Terrace in the former Jobs Warehouse building at 58 Bourke Street, and Sydney hospitality billionaire Justin Hemmes’ Merivale Group has bought Kantay House around the corner in Meyers Place.
Chris Lucas on Friday on the terrace of his Bourke Street restaurant Maison Batard.Credit: Penny Stephens
Merivale is planning a new venue in the building, which currently houses Argentinian restaurant San Telmo and pizzeria and speakeasy Pizza Pizza Pizza.
Juliet’s Terrace is a $50 million development, which will span six different rooms in the heritage building that housed the Jobs Warehouse and has sat derelict since the dressmaking store closed in 2012.
Luxury 12-storey hotel Le Méridien Melbourne was opened last year by Marriott Bonvoy in the Palace Theatre building, which was formerly a live music venue and housed the Metro nightclub. The new openings join hospitality stalwarts Pellegrini’s and Grossi Florentino, which have operated for 70 and 96 years, respectively.
Lucas spent seven years developing Maison Batard, acquiring three buildings, including that of the former Italian Society restaurant, to create the venue.
Maison Batard spans four levels – a red velvet bar in the basement, a Parisian-style bistro with an oyster bar on the ground floor, a clubby private dining room on the first floor and a rooftop terrace featuring a 40-year-old elm tree.
The new venue is around the corner from Lucas’ high-end Society restaurant, at the corner of Collins and Exhibition streets.
“You’ve got to be able to find the right building, and it’s opportunistic that the original Society came up for sale and so we were lucky enough to acquire it,” Lucas said.
“There’s already a heritage overlay for the Bourke Hill precinct, but we’re pushing, along with the [theatre owners] Marriners, and a few other people, to refer to this as the East End, a bit like the West End in New York and Piccadilly Circus in London.”
An artist’s impression of Juliet’s Terrace, to be housed in the former Jobs Warehouse building at 58 Bourke Street.
Lucas said the top end of Bourke Street had suffered during COVID lockdowns.
“Like a lot of places, they go through their ups and downs,” he said. “I think this area has obviously had a bit of a rough patch. There’s lots going on now, Le Méridien has been a welcome addition, restoring that beautiful art deco building.”
For-lease signs remain in some shopfronts and Lucas said there were still more buildings to be restored and redeveloped in the area. He said he was keen to see the streetscape protected with more heritage overlays.
“People say to me, ‘Why as a building owner would you ask you for more overlays?’ I say, ‘Because I don’t want a 20-storey building shading us’. This is actually quite a beautiful boulevard.”
Guy Grossi and the Grossi family this week celebrated 25 years of Grossi Florentino.Credit: Chris Hopkins
The Grossi family this week celebrated 25 years at the helm of Grossi Florentino, and owner Guy Grossi said the family felt privileged to be the custodians of the restaurant, which opened as Florentino in 1928.
Grossi was optimistic about the impact of the new venues opening in the area.
“Bourke Street is about to blow up, in a good way, not a bad way,” he said. “The precinct has had a little bit of a Debbie Downer over the last few years, but it is lifting again.”
Lord Mayor Nick Reece welcomed the new additions to the precinct.
“I think the top of Bourke Street will be the most exciting dining and hospitality precinct in Australia,” he said. “It’s another great example about how cities evolve and change, and they have a life cycle to them and at the moment, the top of Bourke Street is really on the upswing.”
Reece said the area had a lot of history to celebrate.
“Whether it’s the East End dining precinct or the East End theatre district, it is a really exciting time at the eastern end of the city,” he said.
“It has been through glorious periods in the past, and I think we’re about to see a new glorious era which may well surpass even those great periods of time bygone.”
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