Melbourne Central is a large shopping centre, office, and public transport hub in the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was designed by Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa, and opened in 1991. The complex includes the Melbourne Central Shopping Centre, which was refurbished in 2005 by architects ARM Architecture; Melbourne Central railway station (part of the City Loop underground railway and formerly called Museum Station); and the 211-metre (692 ft) high Melbourne Central Office Tower with its distinctive pair of communications masts. The shopping centre features a large glass cone, which houses the heritage-listed Coop's Shot Tower. The Melbourne Central shopping and office development was constructed between 1986 and 1991 by Japanese firm Kumagai Gumi at a cost of $1.2 billion. The original anchor tenant was the Japanese department store Daimaru, which opened its first Australian store over six floors located between the shot tower and La Trobe Street. The centre features a gross leasable area of 55,100 square metres (593,000 sq ft) and is owned by GPT Group.
