Chadstone Shopping Centre

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Chadstone Shopping Centre
Chadstone Logo

Location	East Malvern, Victoria, Australia
Opening date	1960
Developer	Colonial First State Property Management
Management	Colonial First State Property Management
Owner	Colonial First State Property Management
No. of stores and services	398
No. of anchor tenants	398
Total retail floor area	132,000 m² (lettable)
Parking	8,556
No. of floors	2 (ground and lower)

Chadstone Shopping Centre (also known as Chaddy to local residents) in Chadstone, Victoria, Australia is the 3rd largest shopping centre in the southern hemisphere (behind Knox City Shopping Centre and Westfield Southland), with nearly four hundred stores over a lettable area of 132,000 m². ^[1] It is touted as a "Fashion Capital", as the majority of its vast number of stores are clothing or fashion related.

Exterior view from the North side

Exterior view of David Jones from the North-West side

Interior view near Myer

1 History
2 Transport
3 Commerce
4 References
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

The site of the current shopping centre was once extensive paddocks of the Convent of the Good Shepherd on which cattle grazed until the mid 1950s.

Opened in 1962, Chadstone Shopping Centre was the first self-contained regional shopping centre in Melbourne. The centre was built and owned by the Myer Emporium. The original shopping centre consisted of a single mall-way with Myer at the southern end and a supermarket at the northern end. This end was subsequently redeveloped as a Target department store with Hoyts Cinemas downstairs.

In the early 1980s, the Myer Emporium sold the shopping centre to the Gandel Group, which has since managed and developed the complex. A major extension doubled the lettable area in the late 1980s. The Convent of the Good Shepherd was finally demolished to extend the carpark of the complex in this era.

Throughout the 1990s, the complex has undergone numerous developments. These include the development of multi-storey carparks due to the boundaries of the centre being built-up with no further room to expand. Approximately 20% of the original mall structure is left intact.

It remained Australia's largest shopping mall until November 2003, when Chadstone's biggest rival, the Knox City Shopping Centre, underwent large scale redevelopments to achieve a lettable area of 143,000m², breaking Chadstone's record of 126,980m² at the time. Another shopping centre that will potentially rival Chadstone will be Castle Towers, which has approval to expand to 170,000m². ^[2]

However, Chadstone is currently (as of December 21, 2005) undertaking a AUD$100 million upgrade of its own, with the Gandel Group planning to extend Chadstone's lettable area to 170,000 square metres, which will once again make Chadstone the largest shopping centre in Australia. The new extension, dubbed 'Chadstone Place', will most likely feature a Safeway Supermarket, Dick Smith's Warehouse and a Big W Discount Department Store along with a new airport style waiting area for a new bus interchange, a health club and a crèche. The development also includes redesigning the roads leading into Chadstone to allow for better traffic flow into the centre. Construction commenced early 2007.

[edit] Transport

Although the centre was created in the era of the motor vehicle, this fact is now severely limiting the growth of the complex. There are concerns from the City of Stonnington and City of Monash Councils and local residents about the motor vehicle congestion around it as well as competition from local street shopping strips. The nearest trains are at Hughesdale station on the Cranbourne/Pakenham line, which is roughly a 20 minute walk. Also on the Cranbourne/Pakenham line is Oakleigh station is close by, with buses direct to Chadstone. On the Glen Waverly line is the Holmesglen railway station, which is over a kilometre away down the busy Warrigal Road. There are also many bus lines that use the shopping centre as an interchange.

[edit] Commerce

Chadstone Shopping Centre has a total annual turnover of over AUD$800 million. It is surrounded by over 8,500 car parking spaces on three parking levels, and yet it is still notoriously difficult to park there at times. The current upgrade will increase the number of parking spaces even further.

The centre is known for its excellent award-winning architecture and prized sculpture collection, having undergone numerous renovations, extensions, and redecorations, particularly over the last decade.

It contains a diverse mix of major international brands and local stores. Major tenants include Myer, David Jones, Kmart, Target, Coles, Borders Books and Music, an AMF Bowling Center, Toys R Us, JB Hi-Fi, Pancake Parlour, Nandos, and a Hoyts Cinema Complex featuring 16 theatres (of which 7 are Cinemaxx with stadium seating and 5 include the higher-priced La Premiere seating). The countless clothing stores within range from globally renowned names like Armani, Ralph Lauren, Speedo, right down to lesser known labels like Saba.