"When you look at the demise of the CBD and the growth of DTC and Stockland, it's clearly showing us how Ballarat is changing significantly and I think the change is going to continue," Mr Troon said in an interview with The Courier's Michelle Smith.

"We have to forget about Ballarat CBD being the retail strength in Ballarat. We will see a big change down there over the next 10 years - it's won't rely on retail but on high density accommodation. We've got to move people in to the CBD and the entertainment industry and hospitality industry there will grow."

How did this come to pass? Along with Geelong, Ballarat and Sturt Street was once the home of western Victoria's biggest retailers, and had plenty of homegrown giants as well.

A cursory glance along Sturt and Bridge streets from the 1960s to the 1980s would have revealed dozens of big name storefronts and department stores: Venture, Morsheads, Myer, Stone's Drapery, Crockers. Tunbridges. The Red Shop Tea Rooms. Ewins. Moran & Cato. Coltmans, Bracks Bros, Milledge Bros, Valpied the Fruiterer. Stansfield & Smith. Branston's Vinegar, Sirdar Packing Company, Dawson's Ironmongery, TG Skewes Dispensing Chemist. Philip Howard, CW Pennant Paint and Wallpaper.

Today the For Lease signs are up and few of those big names remain. While the COVID-19 pandemic has decimated retail in the past two years, it's been acknowledged the Ballarat CBD, and retail strips in Australia generally, have been in trouble for some time, certainly since the rise of online sales.

The idea of the CBD being a dead zone for retail is not accepted by all, and there are plenty who argue Mr Troon's assessment is overly harsh. What is agreed is the need for more people to be living in the CBD.

In fact, it's only 50 years ago that residential housing was still common in the CBD - and it was a council policy of the day to rid the city of people living in its centre. Cars and suburban sprawl were the future, to the extent of tearing up tram lines and tearing down awnings which had stood since the gold days.

Whole blocks of terrace homes and other housing were destroyed, cast aside as being 'old-fashioned' and 'homes for the poor'. Living above shops on Sturt Street became increasingly difficult as the properties were bought up by investors, and anything above the street level was left to decay. The top end of Sturt Street, once exclusively residential, was gradually swallowed by the education and health care sectors - a trend which continues at speed today.

Howitt Street, another long gone residential street, is now a long strip of poorly-planned light industry, car yards and petrol stations.

So how can the city encourage residential living once more, give the rapacious desire (and endlessly deep pockets) of the schools and hospitals to expand?

Projects like the Lyons Street South development proposed by Hygge Property and recently approved by council unanimously are the start, say supporters of infill.

But that is just the beginning of a much-needed rethinking - and hopeful rejuvenation - of inner-city life.

Mayor Daniel Moloney says it's time for Ballarat to be brave and move forward into driving a growth of new development giving opportunities for living near the city.

"The councillor group wants to have a discussion in the coming months around how we stimulate infill growth," he says.

"We want to understand what our peers are doing around the state and interstate to to make that happen. We could be having discussions about parking offsets and discussions around heights; they'll both be very contentious discussions. And that's okay, we should have those contentious discussions, we should agree on what the boundaries are and how flexible we are prepared to be, because it is not a free-for-all for developers.

"It needs to be attractive to a developer to put together a well-designed building sympathetic to the area. Pragmatically they will want to see a return on their investment, and that's okay. Equally, as I said, it's not a free-for-all. You don't get to trash the CBD with substandard development. So we want to see good design, sustainable design that's sympathetic to our heritage environment and that can be done.

"Let's involve the public as much as we possibly can, and get to a point where we can clearly market Ballarat during this point of transition, where people from out of town now seeing the value of coming here."

The CEO of Commerce Ballarat Jodie Gillett agrees.

Ms Gillett says tourism is one of the keys to the continued existence of the central retail experience.

"People come to Ballarat to see that history, and that will continue to draw people here," she says.

"We know that inner city living is the key to vibrancy. Federation Universities City Masterplan plan will also play an important role. Our belief, though is the CBD will always be home to many niche and specialty retail stores."

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