- Published:
- Friday 14 March 2025
The Allan Labor Government is calling for tenants to fill the revamped Campbell Arcade shopfronts as it prepares to form the Metro Tunnel’s new passenger connection between Degraves Street Subway, Town Hall Station and Flinders Street Station.
Over the past three years, the Metro Tunnel Project has worked to breathe new life into Campbell Arcade – replacing the ceiling, upgrading lighting and restoring the 1950s-era heritage features including the pink-tiled shop fronts and display cases.
The newly refurbished connection and shopping precinct will be accessible, with lifts fitted between the subway and the Flinders Street Station platforms.
Campbell Arcade was the first major public construction project in Melbourne after World War II and was listed on the Victorian Heritage Register in 2015, in a revision to the Flinders Street Station listing.
Completed in 1955 in time for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, it features pink-tiled curved walls, granite columns and prominent display windows.
Plans for the arcade as part of the Metro Tunnel Project were developed in consultation with Heritage Victoria after public consultation.
The Metro Tunnel Project has worked with the arcade’s previous tenants throughout the project, including relocating tenants to new premises in the leadup to construction and offering the opportunity to submit an expression of interest in the revamped arcade.
Work is progressing well on Town Hall Station, with crews continuing to fit out the concourse and platforms and dismantling the massive acoustic shed over Fed Square.
The state-of-the-art station will be a new gateway to some of Melbourne’s most popular destinations and landmarks including Fed Square, Birrarung Marr, Southbank, St Paul’s Cathedral and Melbourne Town Hall.
There are eight shopfronts available to lease within the arcade and businesses interested in leasing a retail tenancy can visit metrotrains.com.au/corporate/campbell-arcade-tenancies.
The Metro Tunnel will free up space in the City Loop by creating a new end-to-end rail line from Sunbury in the north-west to Cranbourne and Pakenham in the south-east – via a new tunnel under the city with five new stations.
Quotes attributable to Minister for Transport Infrastructure Gabrielle Williams
“It will be fantastic to see businesses return to Campbell Arcade – an important part of Melbourne’s history that we have invested in upgrading as part of the Metro Tunnel Project.”
“The Metro Tunnel will allow people to catch a train to Parkville and St Kilda Road for the first time, helping more people get to where they need to go.”