| Location | Ryde, New South Wales, Australia |
|---|---|
| Opening date | November 2009 (Stage 1) 20 February 2010 (Stage 2) 4 August 2010 (Stage 3) |
| No. of stores and services | 276 [1] |
| Total retail floor area | 78,215 m² |
| Parking | 6,150 |
| No. of floors | 6 (Lower Ground 2, Lower Ground 1, Ground,Level 1 to 2 and Cinemas) |
| Website | Top Ryde Shopping Centre |
Top Ryde City is a shopping centre in Ryde, New South Wales. The centre occupies a 3.5 hectare block bounded by Blaxland Road, Devlin Street, Pope Street and Tucker Street. The centre has retail space of 78,125 square metres[2] across 6 floors of commercial space.
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The original Top Ryde Shopping Centre opened, on the current site, 14 November 1957.[3] It followed Brisbane's Chermside Drive-In Shopping Centre as the second open-air mall-type complex in Australia. The original structure was anchored by Sydney-based A.J. Benjamin (the store being rebranded by Sydney's Grace Brothers in 1964).
The centre underwent refurbishment and redevelopment in 1986 and changed its name to Top Ryde Shopping Square. A new multi-storey carpark was constructed, along with new entrances, roofing of the mall area and a general upgrade. Venture then moved into the space vacated by Grace Brothers.
Towards the end of the centre's life it was almost a dead mall featuring Woolworths, Franklins, a bowling alley and around 90 stores which were predominantly banks and service stores. The centre was situated over 2 floors. The lower level had direct access to the bottom carpark level and featured Woolworths and a small food court. It was connected to the upper level via a travelator. The upper level contained Franklins and access to Blaxland Road and Devlin Street, as well as access to bus services. A smaller, third level which could be accessed via a staircase from the upper level and the rooftop carpark (originally the upper level of Grace Bros. and connected by elevators) featured the bowling alley.
In July 2007, the centre was demolished, and shortly thereafter, construction began on redeveloping the site.
Stage 1 was opened on 5 November 2009, consisting of around 115 stores including Woolworths, Big W, Dan Murphys & JB Hi-Fi. This is on the Tucker Street side of the development. Other stages progressively opened throughout 2010, each stage next to the previous moving progressively towards Pope Street.
Stage 2 was completed and opened on 20 February 2010 and included the opening of Franklins and Aldi, Rebel Sport and some specialty stores. Stage 3 consisting of the Myer department store and additional fashion outlets within the La Strada opened on 4 August 2010. Prime Minister Julia Gillard presided over the official opening on 20 August 2010.[2]
The carparks accommodate 3000 cars and feature overhead red and green LED indicators to indicate the availability of parking spaces. Parking spaces for disabled and people with strollers are indicated by a blue LED.
The southern pedestrian overpass opened in December 2009. The northern pedestrian overbridge was opened in August 2010.
Construction of the residential towers above the centre continues with an expected completion time in early to mid 2012[4]
The development of the project encountered a number of problems, including issues of worker safety in the surrounding roads[5] and a near fatal workplace accident.[6] In addition to this, the local Chamber of Commerce raised some concerns with the project managers about the movement of trucks near the site, although these seem to have been dealt with by the project managers with the termination of contracts with trucking companies.[7]