The Store, described as 'so historically important', to come down next year

IT has been there since the 1900s but The Store’s days are numbered.

The state government confirmed on Monday that the heritage-listed building would be demolished by the end of next year.

The confirmation was contained within planning documents for the future bus interchange at Wickham and foreshadowed earlier this year when Transport Minister Andrew Constance hinted that the building’s historic facade was unlikely to survive.

The Store had been Newcastle’s shopping Mecca with a virtual stronghold on the west end’s retail trade until the 1960s. It closed in 1981.

In its place will be a looped bus and coach terminal, with connections to Hunter Street and Stewart Avenue, and a commercial and residential project, which is yet to be announced with “market testing” still taking place.

Revitalising Newcastle program director Michael Cassel said parties who could deliver the project would be identified “in coming weeks”, with the successful bidder expected to build the bus interchange as a requirement of winning the rights for the commercial and residential precinct.

With approved height limits of 90 metres, any building on the site could go up to 30 metres.

Mr Cassel said the project was a key piece of the state government’s revitalisation plans for the West End, describing the area the “city’s new CBD”.

“The site has the potential to attract big employers, more activity and help create jobs and generate growth in the city,” he said.

According to the Review of Environmental Factors, The Store is scheduled to be demolished by the end of next year. The bus interchange is forecast to be operational by 2019. The report said “several options” were considered to retain part or all of The Store’s facade, but engineers found “ongoing structural risk” and “significant constraint” on the site’s future potential. 

Mr Cassel said the site’s history would be “respected” going forward, with heritage items to be “recorded and documented”.

Newcastle Historical Society described The Store as “so historically important”. 

"There weren’t many people in the 1940s, ’50s that weren't members," Mavis Ebbott said. She cautioned against “Sydney-centric” decision-making on Newcastle’s historical assets.

The Hunter Business Chamber welcomed the demolition.