Westfield Eastgardens

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eastern entrance to Westfield Eastgardens
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eastern entrance to Westfield Eastgardens
Westfield Eastgardens office tower
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Westfield Eastgardens office tower
western entrance to Westfield Eastgardens
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western entrance to Westfield Eastgardens

Westfield Shoppingtown Eastgardens is a shopping centre that is located in the suburb of Eastgardens in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The centre was the largest shopping centre in Australia when it opened in October 1987.[1]. The centre is owned by the Terrace Tower Group but operated and managed on a long term agreement by The Westfield Group.[2] The Terrace Tower Group is a development company that owns several properties through Sydney and the Central Coast.[3] The Westfield Group is the largest retail property group in the world and owns 121 shopping centres in four countries.[4] The centre's major tenants include three supermarkets, a department store, three discount department stores and a cinema.

Major Stores

Contents

[edit] History

Westfield Eastgardens is built on the site of a former General Motors Holden factory. The factory closed in 1982 and was soon followed by announcement that a W.D. & H.O. Wills factory. The closure of these two sites would result in job losses to around 1000 people. In order to save jobs, the Government of New South Wales persuaded Westfield to develop the site. The Government rezoned the site and added crown land in order to convince Westfield. In July 1982 three other commercial landlords whose own trade would be affected by the new shopping centre made a challenge to the Land and Environment Court. Following this the Government passed legislation that disallowed an appeal to be made to the Land and Environment Court. Significant public debate followed about the right of the New South Wales Government to overrule the legal process.[1]

The shopping centre was opened in October 1987 and was the largest shopping centre in Australia for a short period until Chadstone Shopping Centre in Malvern East in Melbourne, Victoria was redeveloped. When the centre opened it had two supermarkets, a department store, two discount department stores, a cinema as well as 180 other retailers.[5] The centre was developed in 2002. This added a new supermarket, discount department store and brought the total amount of retailers to 275 with parking for 3260 cars. When the redevelopment opened, Westfield Eastgardens was the only shopping centre in NSW to house three discount department stores, Kmart, Target and Big W.[6]

[edit] Access

The centre has a major bus stop and taxi rank, and also contains many car parking spots.

[edit] See also

List of shopping centres in Australia

[edit] External links

Coordinates: -33.944° 151.225°

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b parliament.nsw.gov.au. Save Orange Grove Bill. Retrieved on 20 November 2006.
  2. ^ eastgardens.com.au. Eastgardens Shopping Centre. Retrieved on 20 November 2006.
  3. ^ terracetower.com.au. Terrace Tower Group. Retrieved on 20 November 2006.
  4. ^ westfield.com/corporate. Westfield Group. Retrieved on 19 November 2006.
  5. ^ westfield.com/corporate. Westfield Group. Retrieved on 5 January 2006.
  6. ^ eps.net.au. Westfield on the move at Tuggerah, EastGardens. Retrieved on 20 November 2006.