A couple sit in the sunshine eating their lunch on a park bench in City Square while two small children chase seagulls along the grey paving stones.
asserted
children → sit → stones
The square opposite the Town Hall reopened nine months ago, but it’s still largely deserted, with the hospitality and retail outlets underneath the Westin Hotel facing the square still vacant and boarded up.
Temporary fencing cordons off the vacant shops, and a “Retail For Lease” sign advertises them for rent as flagship opportunities with exceptional ground floor options.
Despite a “glow-up” after City Square closed for eight years while the Metro Tunnel was being built, it remains largely unoccupied.
asserted
it → reopen → years
The square now features a large canopy with a white slatted roof over the entrance to the new Town Hall Station, a large expanse of 12,000 grey pavers in the centre and metal bench seating lining the sides.
asserted
square → feature → sides
Around the station entrance Wurundjeri text is carved into the stone with an English translation underneath – Wominjeka Kirrip, Welcome Friends – and the far side includes a smoking ceremony dish developed with Wurundjeri elder Aunty Joy Wandin Murphy.
asserted
side → carve → Murphy
Lord Mayor Nick Reece praised the new-look square when it was unveiled, and Minister for Transport Infrastructure Gabrielle Williams described it as “a serious glow-up”.
asserted
Williams → praise → up
A spokesman for the government declined to say how much the redevelopment cost and said it was built within the Metro Tunnel project’s total cost.
asserted
it → decline → cost
Longstanding features like the Burke and Wills statue, Mockridge fountain and Brunetti cafe are long gone.
asserted
features → go → statue
The Burke and Wills statue is still locked away in council storage, and the Mockridge fountain has been replaced by a digital artwork, which features waves of digital lights that cascade down, imitating water.
asserted
that → lock → water
The City of Melbourne manages City Square, and Reece declined to comment on why the retail outlets all remained boarded up nine months on from the square’s reopening.
asserted
outlets → manage → reopening
A spokesman for the City of Melbourne says the square has been used to host 29 events since it was reopened, including Rising Festival and the upcoming Melbourne Fashion Week.
asserted
it → say → Festival
“City Square is ready to come alive – with nearly 10,000 commuters passing through Town Hall Station every day” the spokesman said.
asserted
spokesman → come → Station
“The Westin owns and manages the tenancies, and we look forward to seeing those shopfronts filled and bringing more life to the space as soon as possible.”
asserted
shopfronts → own → space
A spokeswoman for The Westin says the retail tenancies are owned and managed by the owners of the property, TA Global, rather than the hotel.
asserted
tenancies → say → property
The Malaysian-listed company did not respond to requests for comment, and Knight Frank and Ainsworth Property, which are leasing the retail tenancies, declined to comment.
asserted
which → list → tenancies
Visiting City Square at peak hour on a weekday, Rory Hyde of the University of Melbourne’s faculty of architecture, building and planning found the square mainly empty.
asserted
square → visit → architecture
“There’s streams of people going past at the intersection and going down into the station, and then streams of people going past on the footpath on Swanston Street, and then there’s about 12 people in the square itself,” he says.
asserted
he → ’ → square
Hyde says there are some great things about the square, including the native plantings with gum trees that will grow up over the years, and the inclusion of Indigenous representation and symbolism.
asserted
that → say → representation
However, Hyde says the square seems removed from the street and largely unused compared to the grassed area outside the State Library, which operates as an unofficial city square.
asserted
which → say → square
“The reason the protests always happen [at the State Library] is these calls for peace or truth echo off those columns and lend an air of legitimacy because of the institution behind it,” he says.
asserted
he → happen → it
“You don’t quite get that with a hotel.”
asserted
You → get → hotel
Hyde says opening up the retail tenancies could improve City Square.
uncertain
opening → say → Square
“Getting the right mix in the tenancies will be of huge help and give you a reason to go there, like a bar or a little bookshop,” he says.
asserted
he → get → bar
Reading a book in his lunch break, Christopher Schooler says it’s good when the revamped square is used for events like a recent Makers Market.
asserted
square → read → Market
“It’s not much to look at,” he says.
asserted
he → ’ → ?
“It does what it needs to, I guess.”
asserted
I → do → what
Office worker Jessica Davies says she likes the square as a rare place in the city centre to have lunch in the sun.
asserted
she → say → sun
Waiting to perform, street performer Dwayne Andrews says the changes had not been an improvement.
asserted
changes → wait → ?
“It used to be beautiful,” he says.
asserted
he → use → ?
“This looks like it was created by a Soviet Brutalist.”
asserted
it → look → Brutalist
Andrews says that with no shade or protection in the middle of summer the square will be boiling and in winter the wind will whip through.
asserted
wind → say → winter
The Aporia
