In 2000 Beijing Road was a regular traffic street dominated by flows of buses and bicycles, but in the early 2000s a pedestrian mall segment was carved out. In the southern section, which has never been pedestrianized, by 2004 a mall-sized envelope had been cleared, with the buildings demolished. The cleared land stood vacant for a couple of years but construction of a huge new mall began in earnest in 2006 and was completed in 2009.
Unlike with other well-integrated highrise developments in the area (primarily residential), there never seems to have been any attempt to make this imposing big-box mall integrate with the surrounding area. Still, at least it's not entirely walled-off, and pedestrians can access fairly conveniently from all directions. And some of the public-access outdoor areas on the upper floors (especially the 5th and 6th floors) provide excellent views of the surrounding area.