Westfield Marion
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| Location | Oaklands Park, South Australia, Australia |
|---|---|
| Opening date | 1968 |
| Management | John O'Loughlin |
| Owner | Australian Prime Property Funds & The Westfield Group |
| No. of stores and services | 397 [1] |
| Total retail floor area | 130,624 m2 (lettable) |
| No. of floors | 3 |
| Parking | 5,509 |
| Website | westfield.com/marion |
Westfield Marion is the largest shopping complex in Adelaide, South Australia. The centre, its management and all tenant addresses are located in the suburb of Oaklands Park. [2]
The centre contains two supermarkets (Coles and Woolworths), several department and discount stores (Myer, David Jones, Kmart, BIG W, Target & Harris Scarfe), a 32 cinema Greater Union 'Megaplex' complex (including four large 'Senstadium' screens and a Gold Class area), a bowling alley, Bunnings Warehouse and over 300 specialty stores.
The centre also houses offices for Westfield Management and also for doctors, lawyers and government agencies. Marion is located on a large allotment of land with frontages to Sturt, Diagonal and Morphett Rds. Over 30,000 people shop at Marion each day. It is located within the City of Marion and is the major shopping destination for the surrounding region. Some 350,000 people live in the vicinity of Westfield Marion.
Westfield Marion was built in 1968, and has seen three extensions in 1982, 1989 and 1997. The last extension saw the centre expand to a floorspace of roughly 119,000 m2.
Westfield Marion achieved major Australian firsts upon redevelopment in 1997 as the first shopping centre to have all three department stores, as well as all three discount department stores.
Transport
The Marion Interchange is a bus interchange with connections to city-centre, Flinders University, Hallett Cove, Golden Grove, Blackwood, Aberfoyle Park, Noarlunga Centre and Port Adelaide. It is also about 500m from the Oaklands railway station on the Noarlunga Line, which has been redeveloped by the South Australian government into a transport interchange. [3]
Stores
Westfield Marion contains approximately 401 stores. Its main stores include:
- Myer
- David Jones
- Dymocks Booksellers
- Kmart
- Big W
- Target
- Harris Scarfe
- Coles
- Woolworths
- Greater Union Cinemas
- Bunnings Warehouse
- Supercheap Auto
- JB Hi-Fi
- EB Games
Expansion plans
In Westfield's first quarter results of the 2007 financial year it was announced that Westfield Marion would undergo a fourth expansion. More details have been released and show that Westfield proposes to spend AUD$200 million to expand the existing mall with 90 more shops and a new supermarket over two floors from the David Jones mall. The plan was approved by the shopping centre's local council area, the City of Marion in August 2007 after Westfield agreed to move a planned car park further away from Diagonal Rd, add landscaping and include street-facing shops. Westfield originally submitted plans to Marion Council in January but the council had expressed concerns about the unattractive appearance of the three-storey car park planned for the Diagonal Rd frontage.[4]
Most of the new shops at Marion will be on the first floor, with an extra mall running parallel with the existing mall from Kmart to David Jones. The expansion is aimed at attracting high-end fashion to Marion.
Further enhancements will include:
- A third deck will be added to the carpark at the centre's Morphett Road side
- A three-level mezzanine car park along Diagonal Road
- Expansion of the current food courts to include street-facing cafes along Diagonal Road
- A new fresh food precinct and supermarket at the Kmart end
- Landscaping along Diagonal Road
The expansion will add 90 shops, bringing the total to 488, and create 700 construction jobs and 740 retail jobs. Retail floor space will increase to more than 150,000 m2, making it the third-largest shopping centre in Australia behind Castle Towers in New South Wales and Chadstone in Victoria. There also will be 915 extra car parks, bringing the total to 6353. Most of the new parking spaces will be in decked car parks near Myer and David Jones on the centre's north-eastern side and near Bunnings on the west.
The expansion is predicted to increase annual sales at the centre by $108 million, to $602 million. Construction is expected to start in 2009 and be completed by 2010.
Image gallery
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Looking down on centre of mall -
Cinema Steps -
Westfield Marion viewed from Bedford Park
References
- ^ Westfield
- ^ Westfield Marion Corporate Information, accessed 2006-08-12
- ^ Marion-Oaklands Transport Interchange, Government of SA, accessed 2006-08-12
- ^ Marion thinks big, Messenger newspapers, accessed 2007-08-21
External links
Westfield Mall in Marion, Adelaide was recently the cause of critisim for removing a mother from their premisises for expressing milk, during her lunchbreak in a parents room, behind the curtains were mothers have an individual room to breastfeed for exposure. Link: [1]