As usual the SMH goes on the negative side, talking about congestion and inconvienence caused by constuction rather than the end result.
The article also tantalislingly mentions Thakral's Wynyard development early on, but nothing further. Doh !
Facelift time: city braces for pain before gain
SMH August 4, 2007
A lunchtime stroll in Sydney's CBD will soon feel like an obstacle course as big retailers close their doors to make way for a $1 billion-plus redevelopment of the city centre. Carolyn Cummins and Vanda Carson report.
IT IS BEING played like a game of musical chairs, but by the time work is finished, Town Hall will boast a new park, CBD residents will finally have a choice of grocers and gourmet supermarkets and Pitt Street Mall will charge the highest shop rents in the country.
But before the gains will come plenty of pain.
The scope of work in the CBD, scheduled to begin in a few weeks, is enormous. New developments will extend all the way from the northern end of George Street, opposite Wynyard, to the redevelopment of the old Menzies Hotel and Wynyard station building to, Justin Hemmes's The Ivy - which comprises a boutique hotel and eateries - then south to the Skyvue office and shopping complex and through to the Gowings site on the corner of George and Market streets and the Lumiere project in the nearby cinema district.
It all begins when the Mid City Centre, which connects George and Pitt streets, closes soon. A new office tower and shopping centre will be built before Westfield embarks on its $600 million demolition and transformation of the big three, Sky Garden, Imperial Arcade and Centrepoint.
The eastern and western corridors of the CBD will not be left out, with Castlereagh Street boasting luxury boutiques, while York Street will cater for the more affordable designers.
The Mid City Centre's tenants - which include Rebel Sport, HMV, Priceline, HobbyCo Toys, the Body Shop, Marcs fashion, Review and a host of smaller speciality stores - must be out by September 13. While most are moving to other city sites, HMV music store will not reopen.
And while dodging cranes, trucks, broken footpaths and an army of construction workers will become the norm for city workers, the upside for shoppers will be a month of sales to get rid of stock.
Another Sydney landmark that is set to go is the nine-storey Woolworths building on the corner of Park and George streets. While the grocer still has eight years left on its lease, in the commercial world big tenants such as Woolworths need to begin examining their options. The City of Sydney bought the building for $17.3 million in the late 1980s and signalled plans to create a piazza and park to complement the historic sandstone Town Hall complex.
It has been many years since the CBD has had such a serious facelift. It was given a spit and polish in preparation for the 2000 Olympic Games, but has languished since then as the development of office skyscrapers took priority over shopping.
A walk through the prime shopping artery makes it difficult to envisage the halcyon days when the Pitt Street Mall commanded rents that once ranked it as the fifth most expensive shopping strip in the world, according to the annual Main Streets Across the World by the US company Cushman & Wakefield. Now it languishes at No. 1, with the average rent at $4990 a square metre - a figure that has not changed for two years. Eight years ago the Swatch watch group paid a record $8000 a square metre to rent on the corner of Pitt and Market streets.
There are industry suggestions that rents could rise as high as $14,000 a square metre when the development is completed. According to Alex Alamsyah of Knight Frank retail services, another new shopping complex planned for the old Westpac site on the corner of King and George streets is set to house a flagship Apple Computer store, which will take up 3000 square metres over the ground, first and second floors. Rebel Sports is to make its new home in the basement.
Nearby, in Castlereagh Street, new luxury boutiques will join Tiffany & Co, Escada, Chanel, Bulgari and the new Omega watch outlet, opened two months ago. The British giant Burberry opened its first Australian boutique on King Street. The French design house Hermes has moved to a much larger store in Castlereagh Street, opposite David Jones.
A few blocks away is the newest kid on the block: the Hemmes Ivy project, scheduled to open in December. According to Mr Alamsyah, who is handling the lease of the building, designers such as the pyjama seller Peter Alexander are in negotiations.
A redesign of the old Gowings site, which Amalgamated Holdings bought for nearly $70 million in April, has also begun. The owner plans to integrate its nearby State Theatre property with Gowings into a new theatre and arts area.
The biggest crater in the CBD, due to become home to the Skyvue development, will incorporate a 10-storey office tower, lobby and three levels of retail straddling George, York and Market streets. Rumours abound that the German-based Aldi supermarket chain is among those looking at the giant basement.
The emergence of Aldi and Hong Kong's grocery giant Citysuper, beneath Lumiere, the residential tower in George Street's cinema district, is bound to fuel a battle for the city's grocery dollar. Coles owns four shops in the CBD, but these barely match the $75 million annual turnover of Woolworths' Town Hall site. Citysuper is expected to open a gourmet supermarket, giving David Jones's Food Hall a run for its money.
Of course the city has seen all this before - when Westfield rebuilt Sydney Central Plaza - but that was just one property.
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The article also tantalislingly mentions Thakral's Wynyard development early on, but nothing further. Doh !
Facelift time: city braces for pain before gain
SMH August 4, 2007
A lunchtime stroll in Sydney's CBD will soon feel like an obstacle course as big retailers close their doors to make way for a $1 billion-plus redevelopment of the city centre. Carolyn Cummins and Vanda Carson report.
IT IS BEING played like a game of musical chairs, but by the time work is finished, Town Hall will boast a new park, CBD residents will finally have a choice of grocers and gourmet supermarkets and Pitt Street Mall will charge the highest shop rents in the country.
But before the gains will come plenty of pain.
The scope of work in the CBD, scheduled to begin in a few weeks, is enormous. New developments will extend all the way from the northern end of George Street, opposite Wynyard, to the redevelopment of the old Menzies Hotel and Wynyard station building to, Justin Hemmes's The Ivy - which comprises a boutique hotel and eateries - then south to the Skyvue office and shopping complex and through to the Gowings site on the corner of George and Market streets and the Lumiere project in the nearby cinema district.
It all begins when the Mid City Centre, which connects George and Pitt streets, closes soon. A new office tower and shopping centre will be built before Westfield embarks on its $600 million demolition and transformation of the big three, Sky Garden, Imperial Arcade and Centrepoint.
The eastern and western corridors of the CBD will not be left out, with Castlereagh Street boasting luxury boutiques, while York Street will cater for the more affordable designers.
The Mid City Centre's tenants - which include Rebel Sport, HMV, Priceline, HobbyCo Toys, the Body Shop, Marcs fashion, Review and a host of smaller speciality stores - must be out by September 13. While most are moving to other city sites, HMV music store will not reopen.
And while dodging cranes, trucks, broken footpaths and an army of construction workers will become the norm for city workers, the upside for shoppers will be a month of sales to get rid of stock.
Another Sydney landmark that is set to go is the nine-storey Woolworths building on the corner of Park and George streets. While the grocer still has eight years left on its lease, in the commercial world big tenants such as Woolworths need to begin examining their options. The City of Sydney bought the building for $17.3 million in the late 1980s and signalled plans to create a piazza and park to complement the historic sandstone Town Hall complex.
It has been many years since the CBD has had such a serious facelift. It was given a spit and polish in preparation for the 2000 Olympic Games, but has languished since then as the development of office skyscrapers took priority over shopping.
A walk through the prime shopping artery makes it difficult to envisage the halcyon days when the Pitt Street Mall commanded rents that once ranked it as the fifth most expensive shopping strip in the world, according to the annual Main Streets Across the World by the US company Cushman & Wakefield. Now it languishes at No. 1, with the average rent at $4990 a square metre - a figure that has not changed for two years. Eight years ago the Swatch watch group paid a record $8000 a square metre to rent on the corner of Pitt and Market streets.
There are industry suggestions that rents could rise as high as $14,000 a square metre when the development is completed. According to Alex Alamsyah of Knight Frank retail services, another new shopping complex planned for the old Westpac site on the corner of King and George streets is set to house a flagship Apple Computer store, which will take up 3000 square metres over the ground, first and second floors. Rebel Sports is to make its new home in the basement.
Nearby, in Castlereagh Street, new luxury boutiques will join Tiffany & Co, Escada, Chanel, Bulgari and the new Omega watch outlet, opened two months ago. The British giant Burberry opened its first Australian boutique on King Street. The French design house Hermes has moved to a much larger store in Castlereagh Street, opposite David Jones.
A few blocks away is the newest kid on the block: the Hemmes Ivy project, scheduled to open in December. According to Mr Alamsyah, who is handling the lease of the building, designers such as the pyjama seller Peter Alexander are in negotiations.
A redesign of the old Gowings site, which Amalgamated Holdings bought for nearly $70 million in April, has also begun. The owner plans to integrate its nearby State Theatre property with Gowings into a new theatre and arts area.
The biggest crater in the CBD, due to become home to the Skyvue development, will incorporate a 10-storey office tower, lobby and three levels of retail straddling George, York and Market streets. Rumours abound that the German-based Aldi supermarket chain is among those looking at the giant basement.
The emergence of Aldi and Hong Kong's grocery giant Citysuper, beneath Lumiere, the residential tower in George Street's cinema district, is bound to fuel a battle for the city's grocery dollar. Coles owns four shops in the CBD, but these barely match the $75 million annual turnover of Woolworths' Town Hall site. Citysuper is expected to open a gourmet supermarket, giving David Jones's Food Hall a run for its money.
Of course the city has seen all this before - when Westfield rebuilt Sydney Central Plaza - but that was just one property.
