Ampang Park is a shopping centre located on Jalan Ampang in Kuala Lumpur. It is the first shopping centre to be built in Malaysia. It was designed by the architect of Singapore's People's Park Complex, the Design Partnership, in conjunction with Kuala Lumpur-based architect Thomas A.S. Tiang. The developers were the Low Keng Huat Brothers Realty Sdn Bhd.

Features

It was planned for a 4.5 acres (18,000 m²) site, at the junction of Jalan Ampang and Jalan Pekeliling, in the fashionable Ampang residential district. In contrast to the tradition of shop lots which are oriented towards the street, the modern architecture faced inwards to an internal street, or atrium. It was initially planned to be fully air-conditioned, but as built, the atrium was cooled via natural cross-ventilation.

Its features include a carpark for 450 vehicles, a children's playground, an entertainment deck, an exhibition gallery, a "theatrette", and escalators and lifts. It was the opening volley in a series of shopping centers that would make Kuala Lumpur renown for its stores. The mall opened in 1973, and continues to operate today, although it is over-shadowed by its neighbors, Avenue K and Suria KLCC.

Transit

The mall is connected to the Kelana Jaya Line by the Ampang Park LRT Station.

Demolition plans

In October 2015, news broke out that the iconic mall will be demolished to make way for MRT2 project. The tenants and shop owners of the mall is suggesting that the proposed MRT station be built underneath a field, behind the shopping centre. Subsequently, "Save Ampang Park" campaign was set up to urge the government to reconsider the demolition.

MRT Corp has given two options for the strata owners; land acquisition or mutual agreement whereby the MRT Corp would demolish Ampang Park Shopping Centre and build a new shopping centre for the owners once the Ampang Park MRT project is completed in seven years. On 6 November 2015, MRT Corp announced that the mall is spared from demolition, following a new design option for its Ampang Park station. However, with the new design, a full physical integration between the MRT Ampang Park station and the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Ampang Park station could not be constructed.