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Opponents of an Apple store project at Federation Square in Melbourne launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise $ 40 million to buy the Yarra building to protect it from demolition.
The fundraising campaign – which is accompanied by a pledge by the organizers never to recall the promises made by their supporters – comes as Heritage Victoria prepares to consider a request for development presented by the government. from Federation Square.
The Victorian government has announced its approval of the plan to build a flagship Apple store at Federation Square in December 2017.
The plan, which requires the demolition of the Yarra building, has elicited considerable opposition from the community, including the Melbourne City Council.
Heritage Victoria has received more than 2,000 submissions, mostly opposed to the proposal, since the opening of the demolition and redevelopment application to the public two weeks ago.
Submissions close Wednesday, the eve of Heritage Council Victoria, the independent body that determines whether the buildings will be listed on the Victorian Heritage Register, must hold a hearing on the issue of the Federation Square registration. The full hearing is scheduled for April.
Brett de Hoedt, spokesperson for the Our City Community Group, Our Square, accused the Federation Square Square authorities of "playing the evil" by presenting the request before the Heritage Council hearing.
De Hoedt said allowing Apple to build its flagship store in the public square, which also houses the National Gallery of Victoria and the Australian Center for Moving Image (ACMI) "will turn Fed Square into a lobby for Apple ".
He added that the crowdfunding campaign was intended to protest the commercialization of the place.
"Architecture has never been discussed, it is about preserving this public space for the public," he said. "No project will satisfy us."
The Yarra building was designed to be used as a commercial structure since the opening of Federation Square in 2002 and was not part of the original design contest, although it was built at the same time. Using the same concepts and materials.
Its main tenant is the Koorie Heritage Trust, which will be moved from the other side of the square to the Alfred Deakin building.
The Federation Square authorities stated that the Yarra building had never met the financial expectations and expectations of visitors and that, if the development permit was not approved, it would suffer "considerable negative economic consequences" related to the decline of business activity at Federation Square ".
The proposed Apple store would be run on a 21-year lease and would be one of the world's six flagship stores.
Apple has redesigned its proposal from the concept unveiled in December 2017 as a result of a series of working groups with the city of Melbourne and various government agencies.
The new design is a slightly smaller building, still four stories high, that looks like a box floating on another glbad box, surrounded by a larger landscape that goes down to the Yarra River.
It was approved, with certain conditions, by the Victorian government in September, despite the persistent concerns of the city of Melbourne.
An examination by the city of Melbourne revealed that the updated plans "contrast sharply" with the existing Federation Square architecture and "visually compete" with other landmarks such as the Ian Potter Center, the Flinders Street Station and St. Paul's Cathedral. was inappropriate for a retail building.
But in a heritage impact statement for the Federation Square Authority, Professor Donald Bates, whose firm initially designed the square, said space must change over time.
De Hoedt said that Melbourne would be an ideal site for an Apple flagship store, provided it's placed in an existing commercial district.
"The heavens forbid us to build it in the Docklands and rejuvenate it," he said.
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