Tyler Brûlée says empty Canberra CBD needs urban renewal…and possibly udon bolognese eatery

The international style setter Tyler Brûlée says Canberra's CBD need urgent urban renewal initiative.

His weekly Financial Times column, following a recent visit, acknowledged the sparkling new airport.

"But the capital’s central business district leaves a lot to be desired," wrote Brûlée.

"With seemingly every other shopfront available for lease, a lack of proper landscaping and no shortage of well-paid civil servants and diplomats, a smart developer should seize on a stretch of streetfront and kick off an urban renewal initiative."

His timing was exquisite as a new discussion paper on the future of Canberra's CBD calls for immediate action to be taken to revitalise the languishing city centre.

The ACT Property Council and Canberra CBD Limited paper recommends the ACT follow the successful City of Melbourne "Postcode 3000" campaign of the 1990s to save the territory's CBD.

Property Council ACT executive director Catherine Carter said the city centre faces many challenges – transport bottlenecks, empty streets and boring building facades.

Officially the Property Council of Australia's figures show a record high office vacancy rate of 14.7% and Canberra CBD Limited's latest retail activity report indicates a vacancy of 15.7%.

Brulee's column went on to praise a recent Sydney restaurant meal.

"When was the last time you tucked into a dish and found the whole experience so delicious and mouthwatering that you haven’t been able to stop thinking about the next time you might be able to return to sample it again?" he wrote.

"Eight days after I sampled the udon bolognese at Cho Cho San in Sydney’s Potts Point I’ve been trying to find an excuse to book a trip back there."

Melbourne, he says, is a city that just keeps on getting better noting the fare at Supernormal on Flinders Lane.

But he says Victoria’s state capital is in desperate need of a good hotel.

"With none of the big chains putting on a particularly good show, the opportunity is there for a small property to deliver 20-30 rooms in a residential setting complete with rambling garden and an easy-breezy restaurant/bar staffed by one of the city’s better chefs," Brûlée wrote.