Castle Towers

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Castle Towers Shopping Centre
Castle Towers Logo
Castle Towers Logo
Facts and statistics
Location Castle Hill, New South Wales, Australia
Opening date October 1982
Owner QIC
No. of stores and services 312
No. of anchor tenants 9
Total retail floor area 112,076 m² (lettable)
Parking 6,150
No. of floors 3 (Upper, Middle, Lower)
Website Castle Towers

Castle Towers Shopping Centre, or known locally, simply as "Towers", is a super-regional shopping centre located in the north-western suburbs of Sydney, Australia. With over 300 stores and a lettable area of over 112,000 m², Castle Towers is one of the largest shopping centres in the southern hemisphere, measured in terms of the amount of lettable retail floorspace located under one roof. The shopping complex is owned by the Queensland Investment Corporation, the owner of other major Australian shopping centres including Westpoint Blacktown and Robina Town Centre Shopping Centres.

Castle Towers receives approximately 20 million customers per year, spending AUD$650 million, which is one of the highest annual turnover of any shopping centre in Australia.[citation needed]

It has a net leasable area of approximately 112,000 square metres and is one of only six shopping centres in the Sydney metropolitan area to contain two full-line department stores, the others being Westfield Bondi Junction, Westfield Parramatta, Warringah Mall, Westfield Hornsby and Westfield Miranda.

Contents

[edit] History

Castle Towers opened in 1982 with Kmart, Coles and Norman Ross as the major retailers. The centre was expanded to include David Jones and Franklins in November 1991. In August 1993, the Greater Union site was launched and in October of the same year Target replaced Norman Ross. In September 1999, the second Greater Union site opened, as well as 44 specialty retailers including the Piazza restaurant precinct. In April 2000, Target and David Jones launched their extensions with the addition of Bi-Lo and a further 76 stores. In August 2001 the final stage of the centre opened including a two level Grace Bros (now Myer) and 34 upmarket fashion retailers. [1]

[edit] Design and Stores

The shopping centre has 3 main floors The Upper Level, Middle Level and Lower Level. Fresh Food stores, lower class specialty shops and the supermarkets are on the lower floor. On the middle level there is Discount Department stores and department stores as well as middle class fashion and specialty retailers. On the upper level there is department stores and cinemas and Up market fashion stores. The upper class fashion stores include Lisa Ho, Polo Ralph Lauren, Queenspark, Morrissey and David Lawrence, which makes it different to most shopping centres. The centre has 5000 indoor car parking spaces and 1000 outdoor spaces.

Major stores at the centre include:

Future Majors:


The centre has two food courts and a cafeteria precinct. It also has an area dedicated to dine-in restaurants and evening entertainment called "The Piazza."

Castle Towers is one of the largest shopping centres in the Southern Hemisphere (currently number 12) (this does not include shopping centres spanning floors of sky scrapers). When extended, the centre will reach 170,000sqm making it the second largest shopping centre in the southern hemisphere after rival Chadstone Shopping Centre in Victoria, will reach 190,000sqm after there expansion.[citation needed]

[edit] Redevelopment

A recent Development Application (DA) to Baulkham Hills Shire Council will see the centre jump in size to 172,000 square metres of leasable area, making it the second largest shopping centre in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere (Chadstone in Melbourne will be the largest), its current position being 12th. The reconstruction will see the addition of another discount department store and 2 supermarkets and two new G-Max cinemas plus an IKEA. The redevelopment will take place on the Southern tip of the centre site, and expand westwards, crossing Pennant Street and opening up towards Kentwell Avenue, and expand around the Castle Grand library and apartment building. The plans would include bridges, tunnels and crossings through Pennant Street. The cost of the redevelopment is expected to be around AUD$500 Million.

Before the expansion can start the following projects must be constructed:

  • Eastern Ring Road, diverting traffic from Castle Hill Town Centre
  • Castle Hill Bus Terminal, a transport interchange for the busy Town Centre.
  • Terminus street precinct redevelopment Stage 1.

The key to the reconstruction is the closing of Castle Street between Pennant Street and Old Northern Road. Closing Castle Street will allow greater pedestrian access and will provide a key link between the two current shopping precincts. The development will surround the heritage listed Castle Hill Primary School building (built in the 1890s) and the old Police Station. The QIC will use the area around the buildings and name that precinct of the shopping centre "Heritage Square". Suggested uses for the heritage listed buildings are cafes, historical museums, and specialty stores.

The redevelopment will be incorporated into the Council's Castle Hill Town Centre Plan, which includes the partial closure of Old Northern Road, and diverting the main traffic flow along a reconstructed Terminus Street behind Castle Mall. This will allow the Castle Hill Town Centre to be more pedestrian friendly. It will also provide greater access for public transport (buses and taxis) along Old Northern Road, with links open to the future North-West Rail Link, which will include a railway station in the area called Castle Hill railway station. But current plans being submitted to council include another 5000 car park spaces on top of the 5000 they already have.

If redevelopment applications are approved there will be:

[edit] References

  1. ^ Castle Towers

[edit] External links