[2] The approval of the tower was controversial due to the plot ratio concessions made by the Perth City Council to the developers.

There was also opposition to the Council's decision to ignore its own town planning experts in allowing a large car park to be constructed underneath the site.

The building is formed by a composite steel and concrete frame, with various setbacks in its profile, meaning the upper floors are much smaller in area than lower levels.

By the late 1970s, David Jones had withdrawn from the Western Australian market, and the site stood vacant after decades as a landmark of St Georges Terrace.

[4] The site was later acquired by Central Park Developments, a joint venture of the Superannuation Board of Western Australia, Bond Corporation and L. R. Connell and Partners, and in 1986 had a value of $20 million.

[7] The developers sought approval for 1,175 car-parking bays, which Council planning experts had said would cause traffic to back up to King Street waiting for entry.

[6] Councillors Peter Gallagher, Les Johnston and Michael Hale argued that the approval of the redevelopment set a "dangerous precedent",[8] and the State's Planning Minister Bob Pearce said that the building was "too big" and that the Council should not have granted the extra parking bays to the developers.

[6] At the time of the planning approval, the site was owned by AMP, the Reserve Bank of Australia and Central Park Developments (the Bond-Connell corporation).

[9] Over 60,000 m2 (650,000 sq ft) of pre-cast floor units, both rectangular and triangular, were supplied for use in Central Park, the largest such contract ever awarded to an Australian company.

[11] The modular construction principle even extended to the restrooms of the tower: they arrived on the building site as completely enclosed modules, ready to be fixed into position on each floor and have external services connected.

[13] Construction of Central Park cost $186.5 million, and upon completion the building overtook 108 St Georges Terrace as the tallest skyscraper in Perth.

The building's then-owner, the Government Employees Superannuation Board, subsequently initiated legal action against the tower's builder Multiplex.

[23] The use of a service core structure for the building minimised the number of internal columns that were needed, with only two on the largest floors,[12] which maximised usable space.

[12] Central Park was noted upon its opening for being technologically advanced, with "fully computerised air conditioning", which uses data from 1,400 sensors on each floor to regulate temperatures in an energy-efficient way.

The podium of the building is clad with stone to complement the surrounding street frontages,[22] and the foyer is decorated with murals by artist Brian McKay[22] on 223 m2 (2,400 sq ft) of aluminium wall panels.

[22] The architects intended the park to act as a "breathing space in the hard linear nature of the Hay Street Mall".