The Nicholas Building, a landmark on Melbourne/Naarm’s creative scene, is a home to more than 200 artists, musicians and small businesses.

The growing pressure from rising rent, property developers and the city's disruptions from current infrastructure projects could soon displace these tenants.

Working in a building with such a central location, Max Smith* said his business was “doing the best it had ever done, sales-wise”.

Due to the Metro Tunnel's office construction project, there were many disruptions, Smith said.

“The entire level turned into a construction site," Smith said.

"We lost a huge amount of foot traffic, and we had to have our stock professionally cleaned because of the sawdust and plaster coming through the doors ... The real turning point came when the treatment we received from the real estate agency, combined with their inaction, made it untenable." 

Smith’s team was forced to shut down their business in March and leave the building, a decision marked by a deep sense of loss for what the space once represented. 

“It’s hard knowing that something so culturally significant is being destroyed just to line the pockets of a wealthy few,” Smith said.

Sunny Tandoc and Luke Skineki, artists working in the Nicholas building, expressed concern about ongoing changes. 

In 2023, when they first moved in, there were many available spaces because of a rent hike. 

A lot of people had to downsize or move out altogether, they said. 

Gentrification and the decreasing availability and affordability of inner-city spaces were identified as major issues by the Melbourne City Council Community Services Committee as early as 2007.

These challenges persist for the city today, continuing to create significant barriers for artists in search of affordable workspaces.

Skineki said the CBD "risks becoming a purely commercial hub, inhabited only by university students".

"The city will just become a dead spot culturally,” Skineki said.

Tandoc said that the Nicholas Building has allowed people to experiment and create freely without the pressures of capitalising. 

The building’s non-commercial nature is seen as essential for fostering creativity. 

Skineki said art spaces bring people together and have played a key role in shaping Melbourne/Naarm’s rich history.

Without creative spaces for artists and creatives like the Nicholas Building, they said, Melbourne/Naarm not only risks losing inner-city socio-economic diversity, but also its cultural heritage.

*The identity of Max Smith has been kept anonymous for legal reasons