hases of a broad project that has cost owner, AMP Capital Shopping Centres, over $670 million in total, this major phase encompasses the establishment of Woolworths and Big W within the centre, as well as specialty shops, including a fresh food market of about 20 stores and 15 new fashion stores, as well as five new levels of parking offering almost 2200 new car spaces. “I think we missed two development cycles and this is really just bringing it back to being the leading shopping centre in Queensland – which it should be,” explained AMP Capital Shopping Centres MD Bryan Hynes to Inside Retail Weekly. The previous stage saw Coles relocated within the centre to form the largest Coles in Queensland, at 5100sqm, which opened in June, while Big W and Woolworths – which opened on August 20 – at 7600sqm and 4300sqm, respectively, are the anchor stores. “You have your two supermarkets, which are the large format of both Coles and Woolworths going head­to­head, which you don’t find very often,” Hynes said. Downstairs the Fresh Food Market features interesting fitouts with colourful furnishings. “Our intent is to give it a unique Gold Coast, relaxed, playful lifestyle look, so it’s very different from a traditional food hall,” he said. Level one offers a type of youth precinct, featuring the 15 youth fashion stores all grouped together, including Industry, Universal and Vans. Other retailers include Hype DC, General Pants, Fossil, Dissh, Crumpler, Napoleon, Michael Hill, Moove, OPSM and Apex. Retail firsts Heralding some retail firsts, other features of the centre include a ‘digital chandelier’ that, alongside a unique wave atrium screen, are set to revolutionise in­centre advertising in Australia. Developed in partnership with out­of­home media provider oOh! and digital LED displays designer, NanoLumens, the chandelier features three large curved screens running from the upper level through the void to the lower level. It is staggered in height to provide impact and consumer engagement. The centre uses it to market retailers, and advertisers must place specific content on it. “We won’t accept advertising content that’s just run on other mediums, such as TV – it has to be purpose done,” Hynes said. Viewable from all directions, the chandelier is located at the busy intersection between the fresh food market, fashion mall and casual dining precincts. With lighting coming down around it to light the common areas, it also makes for a unique design feature. Located in the atrium outside Myer, the double­-sided wave screen has the pitch of the wave engineered to ensure viewing is maximised from all angles. “We are extremely excited to introduce a world­first digital innovation to Pacific Fair,” AMP Capital Shopping Centres head of brand and retail solutions, Lisa King, said. “Our goal across all our centres is to take a place­led approach to create unique shopping environments that engage shoppers and provide value to the community. The ability to use these bespoke digital channels to create exciting content for our shoppers will certainly help achieve this goal.” The new Pacific Fair When the final stage of the Pacific Fair redevelopment is finished, it’ll be the largest shopping centre in Queensland – and the fourth largest in the country. At 150,000sqm, this final size means around 50,000sqm of retail space will have been added to its original footprint and it will also have over 5000 underground car spaces. By then, it’s been estimated that around two­thirds of the centre will have been rebuilt. This final stage will also see the opening of David Jones, more luxury retailers and a resort. This last phase of the construction is well under underway: the final piece – the resort – is a long way advanced, and the shell of the David Jones store has been completed, as well as the shells of many of the luxury specialty shops. The final stage of the redevelopment is scheduled for completion early next year. “Our leasing is going exceptionally well on Pacific Fair,” Hynes advised. “We’re aiming at having the greatest collection of international high street fashion brands under one roof and the greatest collection of luxury retailers in a shopping centre in the country. “We are aiming for it to be completed by the second quarter of 2016.” The fully redeveloped centre will thereby be well established by the time the XXI Commonwealth Games opens on the Gold Coast in April 2018. As well as attracting local residents, the redevelopment has been designed for domestic and international tourists – it’s been estimated that there are 11.55 million visitors each year to the Gold Coast. “That’s an enormous amount. Obviously with the Commonwealth Games, that’ll grow significantly,” Hynes observed. Gold Coast’s new light rail network, which opened in July 2014, makes for convenient travel up and down the entire length of the Gold Coast corridor. The light rail network has a stop right in front of Pacific Fair, meaning the centre will be very visible to capitalise on the expected Commonwealth Games traffic flow”. Hynes anticipates Pacific Fair becoming a popular destination, with people travel to the Gold Coast specifically to shop at the centre.