Melbourne CBD Business Guide: Australia's Business Capital and the Heart of Victorian Commerce

Melbourne's CBD (the Hoddle Grid, the original 1837 Robert Hoddle street plan covering approximately 2 square kilometres in the bend of the Yarra River) is Australia's most vibrant central business district in terms of daytime and evening activity: the combination of Melbourne's extraordinary laneway cafe culture, the extraordinary concentration of professional services firms, retail, and cultural institutions in the Hoddle Grid, and the outstanding public transport network (the City Loop, the tram network, and the planned Metro Tunnel) creates a CBD that is more walkable, liveable, and commercially vibrant than any other Australian city centre. Melbourne is Australia's centre for professional services (the legal profession's national centre, with more Supreme Court hearings than any other state), financial services (the ASX's second-largest listed company by market capitalisation, BHP, is Melbourne-headquartered), and creative industries.

Collins Street and the Paris End — Collins Street (Melbourne CBD) is Australia's most prestigious business address, with the "Paris End" (the tree-lined upper Collins Street between Spring Street and Exhibition Street) housing the Supreme Court of Victoria, the major national law firms (MinterEllison, Allens, King & Wood Mallesons Melbourne offices), major financial services companies, and the five-star hotels that accommodate Melbourne's significant corporate visitor trade. The Collins Arch and 447 Collins Street developments have added significant premium commercial space to the Collins Street precinct.

Southbank and the Cultural Precinct — Southbank (across the Yarra from the Hoddle Grid) provides an extraordinary combination of premium office space (the Freshwater Place and IBM Tower on Southbank Boulevard) and Melbourne's cultural institutions (the National Gallery of Victoria, the Arts Centre Melbourne, and the Melbourne Recital Centre), creating a business precinct with a cultural depth unmatched in any other Australian CBD.

Docklands — the Docklands urban renewal precinct (west of the Hoddle Grid, on the former dock and rail yard land) provides significant premium commercial real estate (ANZ's Melbourne headquarters, the AFL's national headquarters, and multiple other major corporate headquarters are in Docklands) at slightly lower rents than the core Collins Street precinct.

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