northie

I had to look up the Treasury as I'd not heard of it - it is in a central position but I'm not sure why you need a balcony - a view of the street . It looks a lovely historic building - is it apartments ? The block its in will be very quiet after hours and at weekends as its a "work " area.
As I've said before the hotels at the casino complex are just that - under the same roof but they are not part of the casino - have their own entrances as do all the restaurants, shops, movie theatres.
I haven't been to the casino or through it for years but have been to at least 5 restaurants , the movies , shops .
The hotels are lovely - people from movie stars to ordinary people stay there .

FromDC

Thanks for the response, Northie. Yes, these are apartments so we'd have the convenience of doing laundry, eating in some meals and a bit more space for our 4 night stay. I can't remember how I originally found the hotel, but after I'd spent some time on the website, I went to look on TA and found that it was the #1 traveler ranked hotel in Melbourne! In any case, we clearly don't "need" a balcony but I generally like to have some outdoor space if possible. They have a range of apartments configurations.
We were looking at another apartment on Degraves St...would there be that much of a difference in the "liveliness" of the two sites, even though they are only a few blocks away from each other? Looks like Degraves St would be a really fun place to be able to wander but the apartment there has a couple of negatives so I have to decide on the tradeoff between location and other things. Thanks again for your input.

northie

Degraves Street - very very busy lane way - it's the lane I walk through from the station and has loads of cafes and street eating - which I can't stand !
Another person from DC - can't remember her Fodors name stayed in that area last year - they liked it .
The Treasury would be much quieter . There's a tram line out the front - lots of lines .
Interesting about TA - I do reviews for it but am amused sometimes how people rate things eg Tram car restaurant used to be rated highly - I guess it's the novelty of the tram but the food is blah .

Surfergirl

Sorry coming late to this party. We stayed at the Hotel Lindrum this past April for 5 days and absolutely loved it! Loved the location, loved the giant room, loved the amenities and toiletries, loved the staff!

Very boutique styled hotel, for one. Room faced front, so street view and view of a park. Free tram right out front (and the hotel will also give you a semi-loaded tram card to use for those areas outside the free tram zone). Also easy walking distance to so many places, including a couple of great little pubs, like the Young & Jackson, and some outstanding restaurants.