By the time it's finished it's expected to be one of the largest outdoor gallery spaces anywhere in Australia.
Over this Winter Magic weekend, some 30 street murals will be sprayed on brick walls up to three storeys high in Katoomba by some of the world's leading national and international street artists.
Those artists - including Sydney-based Tim "Phibs" de Haan, 41, and Mexican-born Alejandro "Peque" Martinez, 39, (pictured)- will converge on Beverly Place, off Waratah Street, and spray their murals, paste up posters and inscribe lettering onto the unloved, dingy alleyway of the neglected town centre laneway, only minutes from Katoomba station.
The street art walk will cover an area greater than 3000 square metres - or 150,000 bricks.
Organiser Jarrod Wheatley, 26, from Street Art Murals Australia (SAMA), expects it to attract a lot more tourists to the Upper Mountains town.
"It looks pretty sad down the bottom of Katoomba Street. This will be a tourist destination that's in town and not on a cliff face."
Phibs, who says "graffiti saved my life", says street art has proven to be a mecca all over the world. Hosier Lane, off Federation Square in Melbourne, was full of wedding parties and tourists every weekend, he said.
"I think this space will be very heavily visited for film shoots, photographers ... and it's in contrast to advertising ... it's not trying to sell something."
Peque, who Mr Wheatley says is a "megastar" in Mexico and is regular mobbed during street art festivals there, was a "bit dismayed" when he first came to Australia by the lack of interest in street art.
"It was such a big part of my culture and history ... I want to show the Mountains that aerosol art is not such a bad thing, it's amazing."
Mr Wheatley, whose big focus nowadays is policy change around street art, says it's an exciting time seeing SAMA's work come to fruition after negotiating agreements with the precinct's private landowners and liaising with countless heritage architects and experts for 18 months.
Interested passers-by can use their smart phones and a QR code to find out more about the artwork and watch videos of their creation, as part of a joint project with the University of Western Sydney and the Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre.
The mural precinct was made possible after a month-long crowdfunding campaign last year exceeded its $18,000 funding target. "Gone are the days where people write it off as vandalism," said Mr Wheatley.
The street art walk will be an evolving outdoor gallery. New works will replace old. "It's going to be a dynamic space, not a museum," he added.
Blue Mountains Cultural Centre has joined forces with SAMA to curate the project that is just a few streets away from their own gallery.
International artists from as far afield as Chile and Brazil will appear this weekend. Some of the big names include Anthony Lister, Swaze, L7m, Cines and Jekse, Claire Nakazawa, Ears and Suchis, as well as almost a dozen Mountains artists.
Phibs is expecting the new works will create some controversy and has asked the Mountains to "give it a chance".
"It's an insight into our world. Just like people have different tastes in music and food, you don't have to like it."
See the works come to life as the artists spray from giant scissor lifts and cherry pickers this weekend June 20- 21. There will be free street art classes on Sun from 11am to 2pm run by artist Sid Tapia.
The event coincides with Saturday's Winter Magic Festival (see Entertainment section for details on the festival) which brings up to 40,000 visitors to Katoomba. The Gazette will run a photo gallery of the artwork online: www.bluemountainsgazette.com.au and in the paper next week.
