It was 2017 and to the untrained eye, supermarket giant Coles clearly had a problem.

Its Richmond Plaza shopping centre, a sprawling hectare of rabbit warren-like retail spaces—of which it was the anchor tenant—was old, tired and dilapidated. A small car park at the rear was corrugated and rutted. Only part of it was covered. 

While Richmond’s 24-hour police station was just cross the road, the Church Street-Bridge Road corner that was home to the shopping centre was not always a safe place to be after dark.