Kath and Kim must be stoked. The television comedy pair’s local shopping centre, Westfield Fountain Gate, has undergone a $340 million redevelopment, making it the country’s second largest shopping centre by floor space.
Located at Narre Warren, in Melbourne’s south eastern suburbs, the new Fountain Gate is surpassed only by Chadstone, also in Melbourne, and spans 174,000sqm.
Established in 1970, around 36,800sqm of floorspace has been added to the centre throughout the 18 months of its redevelopment, along with 175 new stores.
Stage two has just finished completion, seeing the addition of the first full line Myer in Victoria in 35 years, a fashion galleria, and homewares and lifestyle precinct on level two.
Stage one, which opened in May, included the fresh food precinct with full line Coles, casual dining, a kid’s precinct on level two, three kid’s playworlds and free wi-fi in the mall area.
Robert Jordan, Westfield MD, Australia, US, and New Zealand, says one of the key highlights of the centre is the fresh food precinct, which since opening earlier this year has traded “exceedingly well”.
“It’s at the leading edge of food, a combination of fresh food retail and food catering, with an indoor outdoor feel similar to what we did at Chermside in Queensland,” Jordan told Inside Retail Magazine.
Throughout all its new centre developments, and there are several in the pipeline (Marion, Miranda, Mt Gravatt, North Lakes, Tea Tree Plaza, and Tuggerah are all slated for refreshes), Westfield is continually trying to up the ante when it comes to its food offering.
“We are introducing more restaurants and better food. Bondi was the first catalyst for that and we’re adapting and improving that concept as we go through.
“That adaptation to the market you’re sitting in with a degree of innovation is important to what we are going to introduce to our centres,” said Jordan of Westfield’s food precincts going forward.
“I think the next couple of features are really the fashion area, which for Fountain Gate is a move upward in terms of the aspirations of its customers with marble floors and high ceilings, and the kids precinct we’ve put together, that’s also trading exceedingly well.”
The kids precinct is a first for Westfield, located on the top level between the food precinct and Myer, the area houses the majority of children’s retailers within the centre, as well as a play area.
“It’s probably one of the bigger amalgamations of retailers that we’ve done, so that has been an interesting growth in terms of what we’ve done for kids in the past.
“We did that for Fountain Gate because of the high growth and the number of young families,” says Jordan.
The changing needs of the growing population in the Fountain Gate area was one of the key reasons behind the redevelopment and expansion of the centre. Forty years ago at its opening the centre catered for a trade area of 148,000 people, which in 2012 has grown to 325,970, and is forecast to reach 442,280 by 2026.
It is one of Australia’s fastest growing regions of the last decade.
The fashion galleria welcomes newcomers including Witchery, Cue, Forever New, Jo Mercer and Swarovski, with the centre also picking up mini majors including Cotton On, JB Hi-Fi, TGI Fridays, and Fenix Gym.
In all, 175 new tenancies have been created in the project.
The adjoining bus interchange has been redeveloped to cater to the new centre, and around 1250 new parking spaces have been added.
Traffic conditions for the higher volume of cars have also been improved, with the completion of a full signalled intersection and new right hand turn lane.
The last refresh of the centre took place almost 10 years ago in 2001, when the centre underwent changes including the addition of Bi-Lo, Safeway, Big W, more stores, Village Cinemas, and an entertainment and leisure precinct.
In 2003 a homemaker and bulky goods centre opened opposite Fountain Gate.
When it comes to technology, shoppers will be able to access the internet, with free wi-fi installed in the mall’s common areas.
Wi-fi is already found in several of Westfield’s flagship and redeveloped centres.
“We hope in the future to communicate with our customers that want to use wi-fi within our centres, so there’s an ongoing plan to introduce it over a period of time.
“We can push out offers on a limited basis, but we’re setting the groundwork where we can do that on a more extensive basis in the future.”
Architecturally, Jordan says Fountain Gate’s highlights include its high ceilings, the space that has been created, the integration of indoor and outdoor areas, and the concrete floors and use of timber.
“It’s very modern but it has still a friendly texture to it that allows you to feel as though you’re in a really good atmosphere. Coupling it with the marble in the fashion mall, the big atrium, and the centre court will change the whole centre for Fountain Gate.”
Photos: 2vue Imagery
* This feature first appeared in the October/November 2012 edition of Inside Retail Magazine. For more stories like this, subscribe to Inside Retail Magazine’s bi-monthly print edition here.
