During the next two years, major private and public investment in the heart of Bendigo's city centre will deliver the latest chapter in the life of the mall, with the big screen due to be installed in February 2022, followed by construction of the new ACCOR Mantra Hotel and new shade shelter and landscaping, including a row of new palm trees.

Related: 2012: A 'new' Hargreaves Mall plan

Presentation and Assets director Brian Westley said these projects represented the future of the Mall.

"Just like shopping centres that are updated every seven to 10 years, outdoor public spaces and shopping areas that fulfill a similar purpose also need to be invested in.

"The last mall redevelopment was in 2010, so it is nearly 12 years old in its current form.

"The mall is a popular space to hold community events and it is also a busy place. There are a number of small businesses in the mall and in the wider precinct, including Killians Walk, that do a great trade."

The mall has been the subject of constant and ongoing criticism from the community for the past decade, leading to admissions that the City had made mistakes in the planning and delivery of previous upgrades in the past.

The shade shelter was originally due to be completed in the first half of 2021, but the City says increased building material costs, driven in part by the global pandemic, had forced the project to be re-assessed.

Related: Pop-up park to go and new shade shelter planned

Construction is also expected to start in the first half of 2022 on the hotel development, to be built on the former Thomas Jewellers and Bendigo Community Pharmacy sites.

This project will deliver a 4.5-star, 110-room, six-storey hotel with exciting new café, restaurant and function facilities that will be open to the public.

Accordingly, the City will delay construction of the planned shade shelter and landscaping works until 2023, when hotel building works are expected to be largely internal. The aim is to have the hotel, shade structure and landscaping works finish at the same time.

In February, using money saved from not running events during COVID-19, the City will install the big screen on the Mitchell Street end lantern and broadcast movies, music videos, concerts, live sport and community messaging.

More news: Confirmed COVID-19 cases at Bendigo's Holy Rosary Primary School

The screen, estimated to cost $151,000 also has a camera that can be turned on so people in the mall can interact with it.

"Over the next few years there will be some big changes in the mall, which will help to further activate the area and make it a more exciting and inviting space to stay, dine, shop, hold events or open a new business," Mr Westley said.

"The mall is a big space to fill, so won't always appear full all the time, and like in many regional areas there are some empty shops but Council has no control over these. It is up to the landlords that own the shops to set affordable rents and lease them out.

"The 2018 Transforming the City Centre Action Plan found the community wanted to see more colour, shade and softness in the mall.

"The City has listened to this feedback and that is what the screen, shade shelter and landscaping intend to deliver."

Other stories:

Mr Westley said it was also important to remember how the broader city centre of Bendigo is changing, with an estimated $300 million of projects associated with the Bendigo TAFE redevelopment, and Galkangu (Bendigo GovHub) and the new law courts developments now underway.

"There will be short term challenges, particularly as the hotel is a major project and there will be disruptions associated with this. However, the City will work with the hotel developer to reduce disruption as much as possible while the Mall is changing and we prepare to welcome this next chapter for our city centre."

The landscaping works that will sit around the bottom of the shade structure, including new permanent public seating, low-level stage for outdoor performances and additional greenery, will be delivered at the same time as the shade structure. A date to remove the temporary pop-up park is still to be set.

As part of the mall's latest planned transformation, a row of 26 Kauri Pines on the Killians Walk side of the mall will be replaced with cotton palms, and other landscaping works completed, at an estimated cost of $230,000.

The City says the Kauri Pines are effectively rootbound, with evidence of pavement cracking, and that they were originally intended to grow for a period of time before being transplanted into local parkland.

Unfortunately, the considerable growth of the trees has not allowed this to happen, but the City plans to reuse the timber in other projects.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: