Developer and investor Poly Australia is accelerating its development footprint after quietly securing the run-down Wentworthville  neighbourhood shopping centre The Mall in Sydney's west, with plans for a mixed-use project to convert the "ghost mall".

In a move that embodies both the next phase of apartment development and the conversion and disruption of retail property as bricks-and-mortar retail trade slows, Poly Australia plans to build 500 apartments and a retail and services precinct on the site.