Four long-standing Hunter Street shops are in their final days as Iris Capital's mall redevelopment accelerates towards demolition.
Sportsgirl, Sussan, The Birdcage on Hunter and Tree of Life will all close their Hunter Street doors for the final time in the next week, ending an era of retail in the CBD.
The four stores were a hive of activity on Monday as the businesses slashed prices of remaining stock.
Iris Capital development manager Jamie Boswell said the businesses had been subject to 28 day demolition clauses for the past 18 months, and were given that notice three weeks ago.
The non-heritage structures bound by Hunter, Newcomen, King and Laing streets will be demolished to make way for stage three of the East End redevelopment.
Some former businesses in that section including Breakaway Surf, The Lair, Nook Store and Studio Melt have already relocated to nearby parts of the mall area.
The site includes the former mall food court, which became empty when John's Carvery closed down in February.
City of Newcastle announced last week it would expedite processing of the demolition development application after reports of anti-social behaviour in the area.
Mr Boswell said the DA was expected to be lodged on Monday and contractors were on standby ready to begin the knock-down once approval was received.
Meanwhile, City of Newcastle will consider a development application for a six-storey building on the northern side of Hunter Street Mall, which has been recommended for approval.
The $16.3 million proposal includes partial demolition of the building at 182 Hunter Street and construction of a six-storey development with ground floor retail, 14 shop top apartments and car parking.
The existing heritage building was constructed in three stages. The application involves reusing the original building as a bookstore, and incorporating the facades facing Wolfe and Scott Street with four levels of units built above.
Sixteen objections each were lodged in two notification periods, with concerns about view loss, height exceedance, floor space ratio, solar access, traffic and parking, heritage, bulk and scale, noise, streetscape/character, impact on local infrastructure and construction.
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