For so many years, it was a mystery.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Just what was WIN Corp boss Bruce Gordon doing buying up so many city properties so close to each other?
It started with property where The Grand Hotel sits in 1990.
Then he snapped up the NRMA building, for $2.85 million in 1991, and another two properties along Crown Street for just over $2 million combined.
More recently, Mr Gordon spent more than $12 million in 2015 for the former Commonwealth Bank building and the IMB head office in Crown Street.
Clearly something was going on - the man was buying up everything in the city block bordered by Crown, Atchison, Burelli and Keira streets.
But surely he couldn't be planning on knocking everything down and starting again?
Well, as we found out earlier this week, yes he was.
On Wednesday, the Mercury revealed Mr Gordon's vision for the CBD - a $400 million development known as WIN Grand.
It includes three apartment towers, a pub, a cinema, restaurants, shops ... in fact it'd almost be easier to list what it doesn't include.
Not surprisingly, there have been some critics of the plans. That's the way it is in this town sometimes; you can't do anything without someone deciding to complain about it.
But most of the response to the development has been very favourable indeed. Some people are already working out whether they should sell their suburban homes and go live in the city.
It's a thought no-one would have had about 10-15 years ago, when the city seemed dead after 6pm. As long as you discounted those drunk teenagers and 20-somethings walking through the mall looking for a punch-up.
The CBD everyone once planned to leave for the suburbs is now becoming the place everyone wants to go to.
For long-time residents of Wollongong, the change is quite surprising - and very welcome indeed.
The Illawarra Mercury news app is now officially live on both iOS and Android devices. It is available for download in the Apple Store and Google Play.
