Restaurateur Chris Lucas has been named Melburnian of the Year, beating out contenders including author Helen Garner and former Comedy Festival head Susan Provan.
Lucas, who owns and operates 12 restaurants in Melbourne, from lavish four-storey Maison Batard to boisterous Flinders Lane venue Chin Chin, says he aims to use the award to set out a “bold vision” for Melbourne.
He wants to demolish parts of Flinders Street Station, which he describes as “the largest, most derelict, unused building in the city”, and build over the rail yards to create a riverside precinct extending from the MCG to the Banana Alley vaults on the Yarra.
“Melbourne needs to get its mojo back,” he says. “Imagine a once-in-a-century transformation stretching from the MCG and Melbourne Park, through our arts precinct, Federation Square and the Yarra River, to a magnificently renewed Flinders Street Station all the way down to the Yarra.”
He says Flinders Street Station could be Melbourne’s Grand Central Station if it were rebuilt with the rail lines put underground, opening up the space for development.
“It’s a beautiful building on the outside, but it’s rotting away on the inside,” he says. “I’m talking about taking Flinders Street Station, maintaining the facade, dropping the building and building a new complex of hotels, restaurants, convention centre, and linking it to Jeff’s Shed [the Melbourne Convention Centre] across the road.”
He is inspired by Abu Dhabi, which is building a Guggenheim to join its Louvre gallery, and Hudson Yards in New York. He says the redevelopment could be funded by the private sector.
“I am not calling for another enormous taxpayer-funded project,” he says. “I am calling for a vision that challenges the private sector to devise a commercially viable, privately financed model for the transformation.”
Lucas says the redevelopment would be the largest urban renewal project in Australia.
“It would create tens of thousands of jobs,” he says. “It would revitalise the city, and it would give us something to talk about to the rest of the world for years to come.”
Lucas has broached his vision with both the Labor government – which is “just not in that headspace” – and the opposition, which is “open-minded about it”.
“I’m humbled by [the award] and all that sort of stuff – who wouldn’t be?” he says. “But I want to come up with a moment which reflects on Melbourne and where I think Melbourne should go because it is election time, and maybe they’re listening.”
During the COVID-19 lockdowns, Lucas was highly critical of former premier Daniel Andrews and his government, arguing they were needlessly decimating businesses and destroying Victorians’ mental health.
However, Lucas says his views were not politically motivated; he was just standing up for Melbourne and what he believed was right.
“If that was a Liberal government, I would have done the same,” he says. “I’m telling you that 100 per cent. Whoever locked me down, I was going to rally up against.”
The award of Melburnian of the Year is open for public nominations, and then a selection committee meets to consider, score, discuss and ultimately select their top three nominees in each category.
This year the committee was chaired by the City of Melbourne’s Sarah Quon and made up of Clive Scott, general manager of Sofitel on Collins and head of the judges; Sally Curtain, chief executive of the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Georgina Downer, chief executive of the Robert Menzies Institute; Anthea Loucas Bosha, chief executive of Melbourne Food and Wine Victoria; Dr Terry Wu, chair of the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art; and Dr Belle Lim, founder of social impact organisation Future Forte.
The committee had three meetings to come up with the finalists, and the winner in each category was chosen by Lord Mayor Nick Reece and City of Melbourne chief executive Alison Leighton.
Reece would not say who was considered alongside Lucas for the award, but two sources who asked not to be identified so they could speak freely said author Helen Garner was shortlisted and Susan Provan, who headed the Melbourne Comedy Festival for 30 years, was longlisted.
Provan says she was unaware she was being considered, and Garner was also in the dark.
“Melburnian of the Year? WTF? Never heard of it. Nothing to say about it,” Garner says.
It’s the second time in the award’s history that a businessperson has won following last year’s selection of Mecca founder Jo Horgan and a change from previous years, when the awards recognised Melburnians involved in charity or advocacy.
Reece says having two business leaders win in a row shows that promoting economic prosperity has become a focus for the City of Melbourne.
“It wasn’t that many years ago that Melbourne was in a very bad place,” Reece says. “The award recognises someone who’s made an extraordinary contribution to Melbourne’s identity, economy, and reputation around the world, and Chris has done that in spades.”
Reece says Lucas has helped make Melbourne one of the great food and hospitality destinations and contributed hugely to the economy through his employment of 3500 people.
“Plenty of the winners of Melburnian of the Year in the past have been politically controversial,” he says. “Whether that’s Kon Karapanagiotidis , Antoinette Braybrook , or Rebecca Scott , they have all been strong and passionate advocates on issues they care about.”
Other winners this year include Bianca Adler, who was awarded Young Melburnian of the Year after becoming the youngest Australian to summit Mount Everest, at age 18, and restaurant Yiaga, which won the hospitality award.
The judging committee had three meetings to make its shortlist before handing it over to Reece and Leighton for the final decision.
“We say to all new judges that come on every year, ‘Do not go home after your first day judging and slit your wrists,’” Scott says. “You are going to meet somebody and go, ‘Oh my god, what have I been doing with my life?’”
Lucas, who is preparing to open two new restaurants this week, is happy with what he has already achieved as a “restaurant guy” and is unafraid of outlining big plans for Melbourne that extend far beyond the plate.
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