Melbourne Walk opens in Bourke Street Mall

15 Oct 2025 By architectureau

Melbourne Walk, a new mixed-use development in the heart of Melbourne city's retail centre, has officially opened - marking the first new development in Bourke Street Mall in more than 50 years.

Melbourne Walk, formerly known as The Walk, stitches together multiple buildings and 6,295 square metres of retail via a series of pedestrian connections across a 3,600-square-metre site bounded by Bourke Street, Little Collins Street, the Causeway and Union Lane, which was once home to eight separate buildings.

Buchan led both the architecture and interior design for the entire project, including the hotels, for client Steadfast Capital. Buchan senior associate Hayden Djakic said the development "leverages its premium position on Melbourne's established north-south pedestrian ant trail."

Four heritage-listed facades have been retained and restored - including Diamond House and the Public Benefit Bootery on Bourke Street, and the Allans and York buildings on Little Collins Street - in a move the architects said was intended to preserve the "sense of a collection of buildings" while consolidating the block into a unified whole.

Djakic noted that the "new facades take cues from their historic neighbours, reinterpreting materials and geometry," and reinstating the "distinctive blade signs that were a lost feature [on facades]."

According to the architects, the notion of separate buildings is reinforced internally through a network of new arcades and laneways that allow natural light to reach in and through the site. Union Lane, they noted, remains true to its service-lane origins, while food and beverage shopfronts along the Causeway support its revival as a "foodie" destination.

A new nine-metre-tall arcade that links Bourke Street to Little Collins Street has also been established. According to the architects, this new arcade takes on similar proportions to the neighbouring Royal and Block arcades. Features such as gold-tinted skylights in faceted shapes serve as a homage to Diamond House's history as a hub for jewellery businesses.

Within the site is a dual-branded hotel, Holiday Inn and Hotel Indigo, which are both part of the Intercontinental Hotel Group but each designed with distinct identities. Collectively, they accommodate 452 suites across nine levels atop a three-level retail podium.

The project officially opened to the public on 8 September.