In our Olympic year (2000), Sydney had to be looking its best i.e. tidy and looking nice and appealing to our global visitors.
There was one problem that faced Sydney Lord Mayor Frank Sartor and Sydney City Council and it was impossible - reactivating empty construction sites.
A decade earlier saw Australia in economic recession. The property market was amongst the biggest victims as shown in the empty construction sites that remained in the city. Some construction sites such as 2 Park Street (Citi Tower) and Angel Place had developments completed in time or were close to completion.
World Square was around 75% undeveloped with Hordern Towers occupying a quarter of the site at the corner of Pitt and Liverpool Streets. The current sites of Ivy at Wynyard, Frasier Suites (George, Bathurst and Kent Streets), Emporio Tower (Sussex, Liverpool and Day Streets) were empty.
Source: Morris, L. 2000. "Sartor threatens whole lot of trouble". The Sydney Morning Herald, April 12: 9.
The site of Frasier Suites (former Regent Theatre) became home to temporary shops. Other sites simply received new hoardings. Meriton had just commenced its construction of World Tower at the corner of Liverpool and George Streets and was trying to complete as much as it could before September.
Source: Jamal, N. 2000. "New event in store for holes in the ground: Olympic aesthetics". The Sydney Morning Herald, July 4: 3.
Source: Skelsey, M. 2000. "Dressing up city holes for Games". The Daily Telegraph, July 3: 13.
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