Forest Hill Chase Shopping Centre

Forest Hill Chase Shopping Centre

Forest Hill Chase Shopping Centre Logo
Location Forest Hill, Victoria, Australia
Opening date 30 June 1964
Developer Pacific Shopping Centres
Management Colonial First State Global Asset Management
Owner Colonial First State Global Asset Management
No. of stores and services 204
No. of anchor tenants 7 major
10 minor
Total retail floor area 64,935 m2 (698,950 sq ft)
No. of floors 3
Parking ~3400
Website www.foresthillchaseshopping.com.au
Entry 7 to the centre (the food court entry) from Mahoneys Road looking west.
View of the 3 levels of Forest Hill Chase Shopping Centre looking east, prior to the level 3 redevelopment.
The interior of Hoyts cimema auditorium 4 before refurbishment.
The previous Forest Hill Chase Shopping Centre logo. The typeface was used from 1989 until November 2007.

Forest Hill Chase Shopping Centre is a major regional shopping centre located in the eastern suburb of Forest Hill in the city of Melbourne, Australia. Owned and managed by Colonial First State Retail Property Trust, the centre is among the oldest in Victoria, opening on 30 June 1964 as an outdoor strip shopping centre, before being developed over the years into its current three level indoor form. Currently, Forest Hill Chase contains 204 stores and 3388 free car parking spaces. The centre has two supermarkets, two discount department stores and one traditional department store spread across 3 levels. The architecture is distinguished by a roof of polycarbonate construction with a barrel vault design.

History

Forest Hill opened as a strip mall shopping centre in June 1964 before gradually growing during the '70s and '80s with larger stores, a multi-deck car park adjacent to Canterbury Road, the development of a Safeway supermarket and an enclosed two storey building at the southern end of the site (where Big W, Harris Scarfe and Safeway currently reside).

Forest Hill's conversion from a hybrid (strip mall / indoor) centre to a fully indoor site began in June 1987 with the demolition of the strip mall section, and the construction of a three storey extension to the existing building, which housed major tenants including Coles, Venture, Kmart and Hoyts, and was completed in 1989.

During circa 1997, Harris Scarfe was downsized from its two level form to occupying only level 1, to allow a new Big W store to open in the now vacant space on level 2. An AMF Bowling centre and children's play centre Run Riot was constructed on Level 3 a couple of years later.

In December 2004, Melbourne businessman Maurice Alter sold the Forest Hill Chase shopping centre to listed retail property trust CFS Gandel, managed by Colonial First State Property, for $214.5 million. The sale was close to being the largest national (Australian) retail property deal of the year and which included property management rights and the potential for redevelopment. At the time of purchase, Colonial First State Property fund manager Bevan Towning ruled out any immediate major redevelopment plans, saying the intention was to change the centre's retailing mix by introducing the same national brands it had at its other shopping centres, Chadstone and Northland. They also wanted to revitalize the centre and give it a "New look."

2007–2012 major redevelopments

Levels one and two (2006−2007)

In the biggest redevelopment of the centre since 1989, levels one and two of the centre were completely refurbished in 2007. Major milestones of the redevelopment program, which started in December 2006, are as follows:

Level three (2010–2011)

The third level was expanded and refurbished during the second half of 2010, complimenting the earlier refurbishment of the other levels of the centre and introducing a number of new tenants. The redeveloped level officially re-opened on 15 December 2010 with some retailers opening earlier or later in the following months.

Replacing Myer and new fresh food market (2012)

In 2012 Harris Scarfe returned to the centre and spent more than $2 million redeveloping the store in the area previously occupied by Myer.

The centre also expanded its fresh food market on level one, which included a new ALDI supermarket on top of the Canterbury Road multi deck car park, which caused a small increase in undercover parking. A new refurbished bus zone was also built as a result. (A temporary bus zone was constructed adjacent to Kmart Tyre & Auto during construction).

Minor improvements (2013)

The glass lift in the food court that travels from the basement car park through to level 3 was replaced, as the existing lift was too small, causing heavy congestion as it became the only fully accessible way to move between levels 2 and 3 after the level 3 redevelopment. The expanded lift is now operating and carries up to 26 people. New facade and centre entrance treatments were also installed along the Canterbury Road car park frontage and around the Level 2 Big W centre entry.

Retailers

Major anchors

Minor anchors

Former anchors

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Prominent restaurants and fast food

Prominent restaurants include T.G.I. Friday's, Nando's and Secret Recipe, all located on level three. Fast food outlets at the centre include McDonald's, KFC and Subway, which are located in the level one food court, as well as a stand-alone Hungry Jack's located north west outside of the centre on Canterbury Road.

Trading hours

The standard trading hours for most shops is 9:00 am to 5:30 pm Monday–Wednesday, 9:00 am to 9:00 pm Thursday–Friday, 9:00am to 5:00 pm on Saturday and 10:00 am to 5:00 pm Sunday. The supermarkets however are open from early morning till 10:00 pm. Major anchor stores normally have extended standard trading hours. Level three is open till 1:00 am the next day from Sunday to Thursday and until 3.00am the next day on Friday and Saturday.

Transport

Forest Hill Chase provides free, mostly un-timed parking for over 3200 vehicles and is serviced by four bus routes and taxis.[1]

Parking

Adjoining the centre are several multideck carparks, resulting in the majority of parking at the centre being undercover. A three deck car park is located off Canterbury Road while a four deck car park is located off Pacific Way to the east of the centre, adjacent to Coles, Target and Hoyts. 300 car parks are located on the level three deck of this car park, providing rooftop parking for level three access. Another two deck car park is located off Pacific Way to the south of the centre which services Safeway and Big W. Basement parking directly beneath the centre can be accessed from Glebe Street or Mahoneys Road. Three open-air car parks exist around Kmart Tyre and Auto, the Big W Loading Dock and adjacent to the Pacific Way/Mahoneys Road roundabout.

Public transport

Forest Hill Chase is directly serviced by SmartBus route 703 services operating on a deviation as well as three regular bus routes (735, 736, 765), with bus stops located underneath the Aldi store in the market area of the centre (via the northern entrance).[2]

Taxis can be accessed from a rank on the eastern side of the centre (on Mahoneys Rd).

The Rocket

In April 1965 a multi-level, children's climbing structure in the shape of a rocket was installed in the eastern garden forecourt, next to the radio booth, of the then Forest Hill Shopping Centre. It was extremely popular with several generations of children and their parents and remained there until June 1987 when it was eventually removed to make way for redevelopment of the centre. It was subsequently restored by parents of the Syndal South Primary School and erected in the playground of the school where it is still in use today. A plaque commemorating its history has been placed on it.

References

External links

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