Pitt Street Mall, Sydney

Pitt Street Mall is the pedestrianised section of Pitt Street in the CBD of Sydney, Australia. It is one block long between Market Street and King Street and is one of Australia's busiest and most cosmopolitan shopping precincts.

Despite its small size, it hosts many flagship chain stores, including Myer, and more than 600 speciality stores within two city blocks. It is Sydney's main shopping street, and floorspace rents are correspondingly the highest in Australia, and the eighth highest in the world in terms of city streets. [Cite news |url=http://www.finfacts.com/biz10/irelandworldexpensivestreets.htm |title=The World's Most Expensive Streets 2006 |work=FinFacts |date=2006 |accessdate=2007-02-28]

A number of shopping centres front onto the Mall, including Westfield Centrepoint, Imperial Arcade, Skygarden, Glasshouse, Mid City Centre, Westfield Sydney Central Plaza and Strand Arcade. In 2005 Westfield took over management of the majority of retail space in the mall through their acquisition of Sydney Central Plaza, Imperial Arcade, and management rights on Skygarden. They have submitted a number of development applications to significantly increase the amount of retail and residential space above the mall and restrict pedestrian traffic between Pitt St and Elizabeth St.

Redevelopment

Pitt Street Mall is about to undergo a massive redevelopment operation with several arcades and shopping centres being redeveloped [ [http://westfield.com/corporate/redevelopments/project_overview.html "Westfield Group - Sydney City Redevelopment Project Overview"] , "The Westfield Group", retrieved 25 November 2006] . Shopping precincts effected are:

* Westfield Sydney Central Plaza - Facade modernized and connections to Mid City Centre rebuilt. Connection bridges to Westfield Centrepoint modernized.
* Westfield Centrepoint - Expands onto Imperial Arcade site and connects to Skygarden. Facade rebuilt and whole interior centre redeveloped and expanded onto 2 new floors. A new office tower will be built above the shopping precinct.
* Mid City Centre - Currently demolished and being redeveloped into a larger centre and office tower. [ [http://www.smh.com.au/news/business/lend-lease-pays-70m-for-mid-city-stake/2007/02/13/1171128973368.html "News Article by SMH about expansion and redevelopment of Mid City Centre"] ]

* Imperial Arcade - Being Demolished mid-2008 for Westfield Centrepoint's expansion.
* Skygarden - Redeveloped with and joined onto Westfield Centrepoint.
* Glasshouse - Connections to Skygarden rebuilt.

Construction Stages

The whole Pitt Street Mall precinct will take 3 years to complete. The main construction stages are:

* First 12 months – closure and demolition of Imperial Arcade, Convention Centre and Mid City Centre. Other centres to trade as normal. Mid City Centre and expansions to Westfield Centrepoint to start being constructed.
* Second 12 months – closure and refurbishment of most of Skygarden and Centrepoint – progressive openings of new retail. Westfield Sydney Central Plazas facade modernized and connections to Mid City Centre rebuilt. Connection bridges to Westfield Centrepoint modernized. Shops fit out in Mid City Centre. Glasshouse connections built.
* Third 12 months – new retail openings and progressive openings of street level retail and Centrepoint and Mid City Centre office towers completed. All centres and offices open and trade as normal.

The whole redevelopment will be complete by 2012. With new stores opening from 2009.

Free Hugs campaign

The Pitt Street Mall gained fame in 2006 as a result of publicity from the Free Hugs Campaign video, posted on YouTube and garnering over 400,000 views in a week. Much of the footage from the video takes place in the mall.

External links

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOSs8JOt3mc The Pitt Street Show]

References