| Location | Crown Street, Wollongong, NSW |
|---|---|
| Management | GPT Group[1] |
| Owner | GPT Wholesale Shopping Centre Fund[1] |
| No. of stores and services | 150+[2] |
| No. of anchor tenants | 2 |
| Total retail floor area | 38,900 m2 (418,716 sq ft)[3] |
| No. of floors | 3 |
| Website | wollongongcentral.com.au |
Wollongong Central is a major shopping centre in the Illawarra region, located in the CBD of Wollongong, approximately 90 kilometres south of Sydney. It is operated and managed by Australian property investment company, General Property Trust (GPT). It is of local importance and is used by much of the Illawarra community as a social and shopping centre. It is situated in the western half of the Crown Street Mall.
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Wollongong Central is made up of two shopping centre buildings, originally individually run but in the late 1990s bought by the GPT Group and joined by a pedestrian bridge: Crown Gateway and Crown Tower. At this point the two centres became Wollongong Central. Also during the early 2000s the Gateway food court was replaced by a medical centre and later by Allens. The centre currently features part of a David Jones department store, a 3-floored Myer, and approximately 140 stores in the centre itself.[2] In addition, there are also around 300 other retail outlets in the adjacent Crown Street Mall, which Wollongong Central is part of.
The Crown Gateway building has three floors. Mini-major Rebel Sport occupies the underground level, which opens to Burelli Street to the south at ground level and Crown Street to the north via escalators. The next storey is the ground floor which contains specialty stores, fashion outlets, restaurants and cafes. The next level, level two, contains much the same. Myer occupies all three stories.
The Crown Tower building has two floors, and unlike Gateway is at street level to Crown Street Mall. The first floor features mini-major electronics store JB Hi-Fi, and a small campus of the David Jones anchor department store, and the second floor features another mini-major, Best & Less clothing store (formerly a Franklins supermarket).
The main campus of the David Jones store is in a separate building connected to Crown Tower via a pedestrian bridge. The main campus is not part of Wollongong Central.
At Christmas, Easter and other festivities the mall is decorated, and flagpoles show banners in the mall below. The food courts are both in the Crown Tower building, with only a few cafes in Crown Gateway remaining.
Wollongong Central is going through a huge $300 million redevelopment, at the same time as the Crown Street Mall facelift. However, completion dates are unclear, as work was delayed after Crown Tower's renovations, and is yet to resume. The redevelopment will expand the centre's GLA (Gross Lettable Area) from 38,900 m2 (418,716 sq ft) to 80,270 m2 (864,019 sq ft), making it the largest shopping centre in the Illawarra region.[4]
In 2009, Crown Tower underwent extensive $20 million interior renovations which completely revamped the interior of the building, giving it a much more modern and classier look. The renovations were met with positive feedback.[5][6]
The GPT Group proposed a new, six-storey (including three stories of retail) building as an extension in April 2008[7], however in September 2008 announced the project was shelved until 2010.[8]. West Keira was once again proposed by the GPT Group in August 2010[9], and was approved by the NSW State Government Minister for Planning.[4]
Crown Tower will be extensively modified on its south-west corner to accommodate a pedestrian bridge linking it to the new West Keira building, and strip retail along Keira Street.[4] The exterior of the shopping centre will also be completely modified to match the West Keira building.[4]
Crown Gateway has little plans announced, although the GPT Group has confirmed that it will undergo delayed $30 million interior renovations similar to that of Crown Tower.[10][11]