This is the last entry in the current batch of the Never Built Sydney series.
Strathfield Plaza opened in 1981. The completed retail complex incorporated mixed-use development above it, with a nine-storey office tower and a 13-storey apartment tower rising from a four-level podium containing the shopping centre and parking garages. This made it one of the earlier Sydney retail complexes to combine shopping, office and residential uses within the same development.
Source: Anonymous. 1969. "$13m plan awaits Minister's ruling". The Sydney Morning Herald, July 12: 8.
In 1969, plans for the centre were more ambitious. An early scheme proposed two 25-storey apartment towers rising above a four-level retail podium. Even the plans for Strathfield Plaza were ambitious, with space to be allocated for a department store.
Had the 1969 scheme been realised, apart from the high-rise towers themselves (and they would still have stood out at 29 levels), Strathfield Plaza might have emerged as a serious competitor to Westfield Burwood, particularly if a major department store had occupied the space. At the time, Farmers was the anchor tenant at Westfield, so its competitors - Grace Bros, David Jones and Waltons could have made a presence in the centre had the 1969 scheme been approved, and Inner West retailing would not be what it is today.
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