Castle Towers

Castle Towers Shopping Centre

Castle Towers Logo
Location Castle Hill, New South Wales, Australia
Opening date October 1982
Owner QIC
No. of stores and services 312
No. of anchor tenants 11
Total retail floor area 112,076 m² (lettable)
No. of floors 3 (Upper, Middle, Lower)
Parking 6,150
Website Castle Towers

Castle Towers Shopping Centre, or known locally, simply as "Towers", is a large shopping centre in Castle Hill, New South Wales, Australia. The shopping complex is owned by QIC, the owner of other major Australian shopping centres including Westpoint Blacktown and Robina Town Centre Shopping Centres.

It has a net leasable area of approximately 112,000 square metres, making it one of Australia's largest shopping centres.[1] Castle Towers 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.

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 Food For Less & Bi-Lo replacing Franklins as it moves to Castle Mall 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. In January 2007, Food For Less was replaced by Dan Murphy's. In June 2009, Greater Union opened its premium five screen cinema complex as "EVENT Cinemas" which replaces six old screens built in 1993. Castle Towers' new EVENT Cinemas were architecturally designed with five auditoriums and a bar all featuring "Gold Class". It is the first of its kind in the world because it features the latest digital cinema technology including new digital projectors and electronic reclining chairs. On the same month, Myer added a new floor on the lower level and relaunched the Myer store as three levels.[2] In November 2013, Castle Towers commenced a $20 million car park upgrade which involved the introduction of electronic parking guidance technology and general car park improvements such as new paint finishes, brighter and energy efficient lighting, improved directional signage and the installation of parking guidance infrastructure. The works were completed in December 2014.[3]

Design and stores

The shopping centre has three 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, Veronika Maine, Oroton, Queenspark and David Lawrence, which makes it different to most shopping centres. The centre has 5,000 indoor car parking spaces and up to 1,000 outdoor spaces.

Major stores at the centre include:

Redevelopment

A development application to expand the centre by 60,000 square metres was approved in February 2011 by the Hills Shire Council. The centre will undergo a $285 million expansion, which will include a new 16-screen cinema complex, an eat-street area, 3085 additional parking spaces, as well as new supermarket and retail stores. Shopping centres in Sydney's metropolitan area such as Westfield Parramatta and Westfield Bondi Junction will be eclipsed in size after the expansion. Castle Towers is expected to become one of the largest shopping centres in Australia after the redevelopment, with 170,000 square metres of active floorspace,[4] behind Victorian rivals Westfield Fountain Gate (174,000m²)[5] and Chadstone Shopping Centre (190,000m²).[6][7]

A new proposal by Queensland Investment Corporation was released in March 2015 to expand the centre by 80,000 square metres. The $911 million expansion plans to demolish the centre south of Target and David Jones and refurbish or modify the retained sections. A new extension is planned on the outdoor carpark off Pennant Street, integrating a food court, specialty stores and restaurants. Unlike the previous proposal, the redevelopment will not take place on the land next to Castle Grand and Kentwell Avenue. With this proposal, Castle Towers is expected to become Australia's second largest shopping centre with a floor area of 193,457 square metres.[8]

References

  1. ↑ SMH: Will Castle Hill get Australia's biggest mall?
  2. ↑ Castle Towers
  3. ↑ "Castle Towers $20 Million Car Park Upgrade". Castle Towers. 8 April 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  4. ↑ http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sydney-nsw/a-castle-for-the-hills/story-e6freuzi-1111112218805[]
  5. ↑ Westfield Group Australian Portfolio – Development Presentation
  6. ↑ Colliers International (February 2, 2011). "Retail bricks to endure challenge from retail clicks". colliers.com.au. Retrieved 28 May 2011.
  7. ↑ "Chadstone Shopping Centre – Chadstone, Victoria". universalconcretepumping.com.au. 2008. Retrieved 28 May 2011.
  8. ↑ Ranke, Angela (3 March 2015). "Castle Towers set to become second biggest shopping centre in Australia under proposed $911m rebuild". The Daily Telegraph. News Corp Australia. Archived from the original on 3 March 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2015.

External links