Justin Hemmes set to bring Mr Wong to Melbourne CBD by year's end
Sydney hospitality baron Justin Hemmes is preparing to open his popular Mr Wong Cantonese restaurant in Melbourne's CBD as early as December, marking a major step forward in Merivale's long-running push into the Victorian capital.
Italian favourite Totti's, another key Merivale brand, is understood to be next in line for a Melbourne launch, with sources familiar with the expansion speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Mr Wong opening centres on Tomasetti House, the heritage-listed, seven-storey building on Flinders Lane that Hemmes bought for $37 million in 2021 from the Millett family. It forms part of a broader $100 million Merivale investment across Melbourne city real estate that is only now beginning to bear fruit after several stalled years, reportedly due to Victoria's softer soil conditions and earthquake code requirements compared with Sydney.
Redevelopment work at the site is progressing rapidly behind construction hoardings, with the , according to The Australian Financial Review (AFR) reporting workers were busy on site during a recent visit. Once Mr Wong opens, plans call for an after-hours cocktail bar and club in the basement, two further restaurants on the upper levels, and a rooftop bar on the top floor, which is currently being demolished. That rooftop level may also become home to Melbourne's first Totti's, alongside a second site under consideration on Meyers Place, near Hemmes' LB's Record Bar.
An industry source described the scale of Hemmes' ambitions for the city: "He's just saturated the Sydney market.
I'm not quite sure if he'll succeed like he has in Sydney in Melbourne. But put it this way, he's not shy, so he'll pump whatever he wants into it to make it succeed."
Hemmes, who with his family ranked 112th on this year's Financial Review Rich List with a fortune of $1.7 billion, struck a more optimistic tone about the project in an Instagram video last year, saying: "We're going to bring this puppy back to life."
Merivale is also progressing plans for a 1950s-style diner within an eight-storey former car park building on Little Collins Street, purchased from the City of Melbourne for $55 million last year — Hemmes' largest Victorian investment to date. Renders released after the purchase showed an ambitious 11-storey "Parkade" concept including a hotel, sky garden, rooftop pool, spa and multiple Merivale restaurants.
That vision has since run into resistance from the neighbouring Melbourne Club, whose members exercised an option to buy a half stake in the site's leasehold, giving the exclusive, men-only club some influence over any redevelopment. Sources say Hemmes is now considering a scaled-back approach: replacing existing tenant Soi 38, a Thai restaurant, with the planned 1950s-style diner instead.
Jonathan Jackson, 29th July 2026
