It appears as though there may be some challenging questions which need to be answered into the very near future for our city centre.
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In June last year, GPT took Wollongong Central off the market after a three-month expression of interest process failed to find a buyer for the shopping precinct which forms the heart of our city centre.
"The campaign was for a 100 per cent ownership of the centre, and simply we weren't able to secure a purchaser for 100 per cent interest, so the wholesale shopping centre fund that owns the asset has made the decision to withdraw it from sale and continue to manage the asset," the then centre manager Antony Keenan said.
GPT announced its intention to sell the centre in February of that year, hoping to attract offers of around $500 million.
Last week retailing giant David Jones announced significant job cuts with close to 30 positions from the Wollongong store which plays a vital role in Wollongong's city retail environment.
It only takes a walk down Crown St to understand our CBD is a challenging environment.
It's unlikely to be any different though to any major city centre around the country. Times are tough for retail. That's a reality.
Many people these days are choosing to shop where they live and there are pretty of good shopping centres in our surrounds.
Online shopping these days has become a monster. There are shops along the Crown St Mall lying vacant. Many shops. The old David Jones area sits vacant with few answers in sight.
There's been lots of theories and lots of suggestions by readers, many relating to exactly what the council can do with the palm tree hanging in the middle of mall. Those suggestions are far from helpful.
Yet there have been more helpful ones, like opening the mall up to one-way traffic again, something which warrants genuine consideration.
Part of the problems holding the Crown St precinct back would clearly be ease of access compared to attending one of the other major shopping precincts.
Maybe, the time has come for a rethink ...