AFTER almost three years, the wait to walk into Orange City Centre from Summer Street is almost over.
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Orange City Centre will open its Summer Street access on Saturday for the first time since Myer closed in January 2017.
Approvals for the building drew out as centre owner Alceon Group applied first to remodel the building and later to remove all but the Summer Street and Post Office Lane facades amid structural concerns and Orange City Council placed more than 30 conditions on the build.
Among those conditions were suggestions from Euan Greer and Robert Bartlett, including opening the central arched window, which has been covered since the 1960s, restoring the urns at the top of the facade and columns on the face, repainting the Dalton Brothers sign on the Post Office Lane side and painting bricked-in windows to show where the openings used to be.
"It's a fantastic outcome - we've lost the interior, which told its own story, but we still have the bones of the story in the facade," Mr Greer said.
Centre manager Nicole Chapman said the two antique pulleys from the old building were in display windows inside the centre, while the spiral staircase from the cellar would be located within Lone Star, which would also feature glass flooring looking into the cellar itself.
Sneak peaks were off-limits on Thursday, with work still under way in the new part of the centre, although hanging plants and blade signs were just visible behind the hoarding.
"It's actually quite beautiful," Ms Chapman said.
Laurie Claire Boutique owner Tayla Wasson, who is moving her store from the old section, said she had outgrown her former premises.
"We were just cluttered and trying to fit everything in," she said.
"It's a bigger space, nearly another half the size."
Little Snack Shack owner Regina Kearl, who will move the business into the food hall, said she had used the old milk bar style for the fitout.
But aside from a greater emphasis on burgers, she said the food would remain the same.
"We've had 20 years of people asking, where can I sit? So that's going to be good," she said.
Nextra Newsagency owner Paul Blunden will be staying put in his store, which the business has occupied for 20 years, but said he looked forward to more foot traffic.
Ms Chapman said most stores would be open for the unveiling on Saturday, with work still in progress on others.
The ribbon will be cut at 8.45am on Saturday, with doors opening at 9am and music and entertainment on offer throughout the day.
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