The City of Sydney has approved a plan which will see Surry Hills’ notorious Shopping Village — aka “the murder mall” — transformed into a family-friendly 170-unit apartment block, with a rebuilt Coles supermaket, increased public space, and a pedestrian-friendly walk-way. And hopefully, an entirely new reputation.

Surry Hills Shopping Village, at the end of Crown Street, on the corner of Cleveland and Baptist streets, sold last year for an estimate $100 million, after it went for a paltry 6.3 million thirty years prior. The new owners have big plans.

Even Domain — whose entire remit is to promote property — calls the mall “one of Surry Hills’ daggiest and most ‘degraded’ areas”, which is a neat way to sidestep the mall’s actual local reputation as “the murder mall”.

Although such a name would suggest a string of actual murders — or at least one — the moniker appears to stem less from actual life-taking and more from the mall’s rundown facade, and a general unsafe feeling in the area.

An Instagram account popped up and highlighted the neglected area (and drew national controversy), but lucklustre surveillance and a regular stream of junkies don’t help the mall’s reputation either, to be honest.

Still, all things must pass.

“We are looking at getting rid of that tagline that exists today – and which we didn’t know about until we’d bought the site,” says Fabrizio Perilli, CEO of TOGA Development & Construction, who purchased the site.

“We want it to become a much more inviting environment with all aspects of the community, with a mix of the retail centre and residential and the laneways and park”, he continues.

“That description is something we will hopefully address and fix up and turn it into a safe place with passive surveillance, and a very welcoming part of Sydney.”

TOGA expect to start construction early next year, with a proposed development period of two-and-a-half years.

“It’s a centre that needs some love and attention,” Perilli told AFR. “You’ve got a massive tract of land that has been under-utilised for many years and it is tired. The opportunity is to create a precinct that caters to multi-use, retail being one of them. And a residential population and hopefully an office population. But they’re things that need to be worked through.”

Lord Mayor Clover Moore seems willing to work with developers, telling AFR: “We need good planning to make sure the local economy continues to grow and thrive.

“This proposed redevelopment will improve the design of the shopping village, and changes in building height will provide essential open space for the growing numbers of people living and working in the area.”

Here is an artist’s impression of the new site.