The group has united with investors, developers, and the Property Council of Australia to demand the precinct be reopened to traffic, as they believe it divides the city and has "killed" business.

A letter from the group sent to Wollongong City Council, and seen by the Mercury, requests an urgent meeting to discuss reopening Crown Street from at least Church to Kembla streets, as well as lowering council rates and the mall levy.

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"There is a clear need and evident desire by the local community for the Crown Street Mall precinct to change ... otherwise face a continual collapse of many businesses in this area," the letter read.

"There is enough evidence across the country in all states and in regional and metro CBDs where mall precincts have become redundant, no longer appropriate for their town or city's core.

"The eventual resolution in each case was by some form of reopening."

The letter outlines a number of reasons in favour of opening the mall to traffic including attracting a wider variety of businesses, encouraging more people to frequent the mall, creating better access for people and fostering the night-time economy.

"Crown Street Mall is literally double the length of Pitt Street Mall with a population of just five per cent of Sydney's," it said.

"[It] divides/separates the CBD - connectivity and accessibility is limited for pedestrians."

The group also claim high council rates and mall levies exceed the current rent being received by property owners - making it more expensive than Bondi.

"By revitalising and redesigning the lower mall with wide sidewalks and pedestrian ways, outdoor dining could be encouraged, and a new mix of businesses, retail and hospitality uses could be encouraged which would bring activity and prosperity to the CBD," they said.

The group say they can't wait another three to five years to see any action, and want a trial organised for at least the lower end of the mall to reopen.

"We believe that moving forward, people will want more alfresco dining and socialising outdoors where they can be socially distant," the letter said.

"There is also a real opportunity here for council to be proactive and turn its attention to revitalising the lower mall and making it COVID Safe."

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Wollongong council must ditch its expensive business levies for the Crown Street Mall which are three times that of properties in Bondi, according to a building owner in the CBD.

James Pillion is part of a united group seeking urgent intervention from Wollongong City Council to reopen the pedestrian strip to traffic and lower expensive rates and mall levies, before more businesses go under.

Mr Pillion said the mall was "a shadow of its former self" with renovations to Wollongong Central diverting customers away from the mall precinct.

"The mall needs to be reinvented," he said.

"Reopening it is just one of the solutions and I don't think it can be the only one. Council need to get our costs down to allow us to stay in business."

His shop front at 187 Crown Street has sat empty for around a year and a half without much inquiry, which he believes is due to high overheads from council.

"The rates we pay in Wollongong are triple the comparable rate of a like property that we manage in Oxford Street Mall, Bondi Junction," he told the Mercury. "The Wollongong council rates are $62,000 p.a. versus $18,000 p.a. in Bondi."

Spokesman for the group, Travis Machan of MMJ Real Estate, said rents had decreased about 60 per cent in the past two years, tenant vacancies were at an all-time high, and effects from the COVID-19 pandemic were making matters worse.

"[The mall] divides the CBD rather than connecting it," he said.

"Building and business owners are desperate for change to reactivate what should be our beating heart of the city.

"Opening at lease part of the mall to slow moving traffic will create greater connectivity and generate activity around the CBD."

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Dennis and Maria Colla have run Centre Town Newsagency for 20 years, and see no benefits from the "extraordinary" rates they pay and are "desperate" for change.

Mrs Colla said the length of the mall stopped customers from wandering down the strip, with "nothing to draw them there".

"You need to give people a reason and a purpose to come in and I don't think there's enough," she said.

"Wollongong's main shopping precinct is the most deserted place in the CBD - it should be the busiest.

"We need immediate action otherwise the mall will continue to die."

Crown Diamond Jewellers has been a fixture in the mall since 1995, but co-owner Zak Inan said it has suffered a consistent decline in trade and efficiency.

"We have fallen behind the times," he said. "Opening the Mall up to slow moving traffic and angled parking would immediately reactivate the city centre, as it has done in many other city centres around the country."