Crown Street, Wollongong / Birketu Investment
Turning up the volume on Wollongong’s musical talent to create the core of a mixed-use development and revitalise the greater CBD.
In 2021, Birketu Investment revealed plans for a mixed-use precinct on Crown St., a prime site positioned to attract investment and drive the transformation of Wollongong’s CBD.
Since the partial shutdown of the steelworks in 2011, Wollongong has been transitioning from a blue-collar base to a white-collar hub. Located just 1.5 hours south of Sydney, the city boasts a diverse demographic but faces the challenge of shedding its ‘Steel City’ image and fostering job growth.
Although Birketu’s chosen location had the potential to be the heart of Wollongong, it was marred by retail vacancies, a disengaged community, low foot traffic and a stagnant nighttime economy.
Hoyne needed to craft a compelling Place Vision that secured rezoning approval, gained community support, set new benchmarks for quality and commercial success, and strengthened the precinct’s sales and leasing strategy.
Through our Place Visioning® process, Hoyne found Wollongong boasted Australia’s most vibrant live music scene per capita – an often-overlooked strength which became central to our vision. As a result, we made live music the heartbeat of this mixed-use development, ensuring its social and commercial benefits would resonate far beyond the project’s physical footprint.
By showcasing live music across various genres and venues, we had identified a unique and authentic way to revitalise the area, one that would energise the local atmosphere while also positively influencing all other asset classes on our client’s site. Crown Street would be transformed into a dynamic and highly desirable destination.
Via a study tour with the Urban Land Institute, Andrew Hoyne’s firsthand experience of District Wharf in Washington, DC, influenced our approach. This dynamic precinct also became the subject of an in-depth case study in volume 3 of our book, The Place Economy.
Designed to leave an indelible and lasting mark on Wollongong, its evolving vitality and liveability, the project was granted development consent by the Southern Regional Planning Panel in December 2022.
