With the multimillion dollar Kings Square redevelopment set to create a cultural, community and commercial hub for Fremantle, a new residential development metres away will deliver an opportunity for a new generation of residents to call the Port City home.

Just 100 metres from Kings Square at 52 Adelaide Street, Yolk Property Group’s apartment project Little Lane will deliver homes for more than 100 new residents along with cafes and shops. It is the first significant residential development on Adelaide Street since the 1970s and the first in ten years so close to Fremantle’s city centre.

The development site comprises the former Spotlight building and well-known Westgate Mall. The mall was originally developed to stimulate the city’s commercial and retail industry, designed to provide access from the Westgate Car Park through to the shopping complex. Westgate Mall opened to the public in 1965 and bustled with shoppers in the 1960s and 1970s, with the adjoining Adelaide Street building seeing many rebirths over the decades. Originally opening as Coles Stores in 1965, it then became a Fosseys in the 1980s and then fabric, haberdashery and craft superstore Spotlight, after it was purchased by the company in 1995. It closed in 2007 and sat empty for ten years.

Yolk Property Group Director Pete Adams said Westgate Mall and the adjoining building were a Fremantle icon, with many generations of families spending time there in one of its incarnations.

“Almost everyone has a memory of the Westgate Mall and connected building and would be able to recall its different uses over the years. It’s exciting to bring this once popular spot back to life after decades of disrepair and underutilisation,” Mr Adams said.

“Westgate Mall will be transformed into Little Lane – the name and project design take inspiration from the former mall and it will be reborn alongside the apartments as a modern cafe and retail hot spot for residents and locals to enjoy, just as past generations did years ago,” he said.

In addition to the Kings Square redevelopment, the City of Fremantle has slated Queen, Point and Adelaide Streets for upgrades in future urban renewal projects. The Little Lane development is playing a role in the revitalisation of central Fremantle, with the planned 150-room Double Tree Hilton on the corner of Point and Adelaide Streets, also adding to the renewal of the area.

Mr Adams said developments like Kings Square and Little Lane are breathing new life into the suburb.

“The project is perfectly poised to take full advantage of the redeveloped Fremantle, with its vibrant new city centre – there has never been a more exciting time to be a Fremantle resident or to join the community there.

“Kings Square is just the beginning of a once-in-a-generation transformation which is likely to span many years – Little Lane is offering an incredible opportunity to secure a home at the beginning of this transition,” Mr Adams said.

Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettitt said Little Lane offered an opportunity for a new wave of residents to join the Fremantle community.

“I am very excited by this development that will bring more people into the heart of Fremantle, close to the soon to be completed Kings Square civic renewal project,” Mr Pettitt said.

Little Lane is located at 52 Adelaide Street in Fremantle. The project will deliver housing to a new generation of Fremantle residents via 70 apartments, with a mix of one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom configurations. Little Lane is now selling with prices starting at $359,000. Little Lane will transform Westgate Mall, which will sit underneath the apartments, into a café-retail hot spot, improving the amenity of the area. Construction is expected to commence later in the year.

The new Little Lane sales display centre opens to the public 12 May at 52 Adelaide Street. The sales display centre sits alongside the MANY 2.0 collective space activation, with Yolk Property Group donating the vacant building for the temporary activation in April 2017 after it vacated its original premises at the former MYER building. The sales display is open this Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 May from 11AM to 3PM, and also by appointment. For more information visit: www.littlelane.com.au or call Sales Agent Katherine Severn on 0438 904 494.