Local media got a sneak peek of Qianmen on Thursday night and experienced the redeveloped street lit-up. [Gao Zhijian/chinadaily.com.cn]

After months of anticipation the reopening of one of Beijing’s oldest streets has now been confirmed.

Qianmen Street, closed for redevelopment since May 2007, will open its doors in early August, but only for a select few – for the moment.

“[Qianmen Street] will open during the Olympics,” says Mr Zhang, deputy development manager of the Chongwen District Commercial Bureau. “Official tour groups and visitors will first get to experience the street before it opens to the public.”

Zhang says there street is still being completed in certain areas and the tenants have yet to outfit their shops.

The 840-metre street that extends south of Tiananmen Square is hoping to be the Champs d’Elysee of China’s capital with high profile labels such as Prada and MaxMara already confirmed for Beijing’s newest retail sector.

And appetites will be sated when Quan Ju De’s world-famous Beijing Kao Ya or Roast Duck reignites its wood ovens in a refurbished restaurant.

It is also rumoured Apple Computer will plant its first official China Apple Store in the new Qianmen.

At a cost of more than 9 billion yuan ($1.3 billion), Qianmen’s makeover recreates the grandeur of 1930s Beijing with broad boulevards and even old fashioned trolley-cars not seen on the street since 1924.

Covering an area of 6,000 square metres, 80 percent of Qianmen’s buildings are more than 100 years old. Of this 76 percent have been fully restored, while the remaining 24 percent have been updated.