Australian restaurateur Chris Lucas announced today his exciting collaboration with leading integrated property investor and developer, Cbus Property, to bring his sense of elegant style and sophisticated design to 435 Bourke Street, Melbourne.
Lucas’s concepts will form the centrepiece of the new-build $1 billion commercial office tower. Lucas will design and operate two restaurants, including a new style Chinese and a sophisticated Mediterranean concept, forming a new culinary destination for mid-town Melbourne.
From the project’s inception, Chris Lucas has been working with Cbus Property and project architect, Bates Smart, to design and reimagine the food and guest experience at 435 Bourke Street, which will position it as one Australia’s most exciting CBD developments. Lucas will bring a sense of cool sophistication to the design philosophy that will see his restaurants at the forefront of the vision for the precinct. The state-of-the-art commercial building will be a beautiful home to thousands of city workers and emerge as one the cities most desired dining and working destinations.
Chris Lucas said, “Melbourne is my home and city that I have dedicated my working life to and is also one of the world’s great food cities. Developments such as 435 Bourke Street give me a rare creative licence and a blank canvas to see how our restaurants can help transform our city and position it as a city of the future for both hospitality and work.
“It’s invigorating to collaborate with a team of like-minded creatives at Cbus Property, who share my belief that global cities thrive on world-class hospitality venues and exceptional dining experiences, while internationally renowned project architect, Bates Smart, has seamlessly integrated my vision into the building’s architectural expression.
“This project is an important city-shaping project for Melbourne and is set to be a landmark commercial tower and new dining destination for future generations. I’m proud and humbled to be entrusted with significant transformational development for our city. As with 80 Colins Street, 435 Bourke Street will be a cool and delicious integrated commercial and dining precinct with an inherent focus on sustainability. My al-electric restaurants will use some of the most advanced hospitality technology available, such as electric woks, demonstrating how our industry can participate and lead as we transition to a more environmentally sustainable world.”
Adrian Pozzo, Cbus Property’s Chief Executive Officer said, “We are thrilled to welcome Chris Lucas to help shape the vision for 435 Bourke Street and create restaurant offerings that will reinvigorate mid-town Melbourne by applying the signature Lucas atmosphere and experience to define a new mixed-use destination for the CBD”.
“Cbus Property and Chris Lucas have worked collaboratively to design the restaurant fitouts to ensure they are wholistically aligned with 435 Bourke Street’s inherent focus on sustainability,” he said.
“The focus and future of work is constantly evolving so our acute awareness of the need to deliver an exceptional user experience to support our future customers means we are also focused on the social value of the places we deliver.
“Chris Lucas’ commitment to 435 Bourke Street is sheer testament to the unparalleled calibre of this precinct, which will now be underpinned by an extraordinary integrated restaurant offering.”
Mr Pozzo went on to say that Cbus Property’s collaboration with Chris Lucas was “wholistically aligned with 435 Bourke Street’s focus on sustainability, nature, wellness and connection to the community”.
“This is exactly what our existing and prospective tenant partners are looking for in a workplace– access to best-in-class amenity and world-class environmentally sustainable design in an outstanding central-CBD location,” he said.
Chris Lucas is continuing to collaborate with world-class developments in designing hospitality offerings that are transformative– building on the success at 80 Colins Street, which has become one of the most internationally acclaimed dining destinations in Australia, along with the repositioning of Melbourne’s iconic ‘power tower’ 101 Colins, where Lucas opened Gril Americano. Lucas continues to embrace his passion for urban design that creates beautiful and considered people-friendly spaces, as Australia’s cities transform into thriving centres that entertain and facilitate modern workplaces.
Lucas recently announced his first restaurant in the heart of Canberra’s Scotts Crossing precinct,
Carlotta, a Mediterranean concept opening later this year.
Lucas Restaurants has spent the best part of three decades changing the face of Melbourne dining with iconic restaurants, including Australia’s renowned Chin Chin, along with Society, Yakimono, Grill Americano, Kisumé, Baby and Hawker Hal and the much-anticipated Batard in Bourke Street, due to open in late spring 2024.
Currently under construction on the corner of Bourke and Queen streets, 435 Bourke Street is
anticipated for completion in late 2026.
