Steak restaurant plans for Georges Building on the Paris end of Collins Street

Jonathan ChancellorOctober 17, 2012

Standy by for a new food venture in the landmark Georges Building at the Paris end of Collins Street in Melbourne.

The steakhouse Little Hunter will join the existing international fashion brands and hospitality operators.

The Little Hunter steak restaurant is being launched by the group behind the new Senoritas Mexican restaurant in Meyers Place.

It's due to open in 2013, under the stewardship of head chef Gavin Baker, in a 295-square-metre space fronting Little Collins Street.

The American-born Baker has worked for Jean-Jacques Rachou in New York and served as executive chef in Justin Timberlake's restaurant in Los Angeles along with being a sous-chef at The Fat Duck in London.

“Little Hunter draws inspiration from the land, the farmer and the best cattle bred in Australia to blend contemporary dining with the highest quality local produce,” a company spokeswoman said.

CBRE associate director Max Cookes says the Little Hunter lease is another step in the right direction for the Georges Building, where the flagship retail spaces on Collins Street are still available.

There is also an all-day café space overlooking Little Collins Street available for lease, although negotiations are well advanced.

“We are seeking one of Melbourne’s best cafe operators for this space who can take advantage, not only of the customers who already frequent the existing Georges retailers such as Toni & Guy, Readers Feast Bookstore and Dolci Firme, but who is also capable of drawing in customers from surrounding buildings,” Cookes says.

A Melbourne institution, the original Georges store traded in the Collins Street building for 115 years, from 1880 until its closure in 1995. At that point, Country Road founder Stephen Bennett bought the rights to the Georges name from David Jones and gave the building a multimillion-dollar refurbishment and fitout under the stewardship of international designer Terence Conran.

The Bennett makeover transformed the building into a popular venue for dining and lifestyle retailing and was the catalyst for the creation of a new fashion precinct in Little Collins Street. However, the venture foundered after just a year and the centre was later resurrected as a series of speciality stores, service retailers and hospitality operators.

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

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