Downtown Shopping Centre

Downtown Shopping Centre
Location Auckland CBD
Management Colliers International Real Estate Management
Owner Precinct Properties New Zealand
No. of stores and services 86
No. of anchor tenants 3
Total retail floor area 12,417 m2 (133,660 sq ft)
No. of floors 3
Parking none
Website www.downtownshoppingcentre.co.nz
Westfield Downtown as seen from the Queen Street intersection, looking north.

Downtown Shopping Centre, formerly Westfield Downtown, is a smaller shopping centre with 12,417 m² gross lettable area[1] in the Auckland CBD, Auckland City, New Zealand. It is situated at 11–19 Customs Street West between Lower Albert Street and the Britomart Transport Centre. In late 2012, it was sold by Westfield to Precinct Properties Holdings New Zealand Limited formerly AMP NZ Office Limited (ANZO), and is currently being rebranded. A highrise is planned for the site, and the future City Rail Link will go through the foundations of that building.

Shopping centre

The centre has approximately 80 stores on three floors, with the three major stores being The Warehouse, Warehouse Stationery and Postie Plus.[1] It was one of the few Westfield Group malls that did not provide a supermarket, but is also the only proper mall in the entire CBD area. It is also known for being covered almost completely by huge exterior billboards, which have repeatedly drawn the ire of Council officers.[2]

In 2005, the centre had retail sales of NZ$ 56.9 million, and 5.8 million customer visits per year. These are mostly CBD workers, tourists and the growing inner-city population.[1][3] However, the centre had been called Westfield's most underperforming shopping centre in New Zealand. Lying in the middle of a much more densely built up CBD and being considered underdeveloped with only three storeys above ground, various other plans for the site have been mooted in recent years. The centre, valued at NZ$ 79.1 million (2009 data),[4] could therefore potentially become the site for a new office tower or hotel, though no decisions have yet been taken.[5]

Planned skyscraper

In 2008, Westfield received approval via non-notified resource consent for a 41 storey office skyscraper (including a 2 level retail podium) at the site of the current centre.[6] The permission has come under fire, as it was granted without protection requirements for a future rail tunnel from Britomart Transport Centre, which would have to pass right under the building.[7] However, in October 2008, ONTRACK noted that it had reached an agreement in principle with the owners of Westfield Downtown to allow the tunnel route to be threaded through the future foundations.[8]

More recent develop plans have involved talks between the developers and Auckland City to build the new centre with regard for the future City Rail Link which is expected to tunnel under the site if its development occurs (possibly from 2015-2020).[9]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Westfield Downtown (from the Westfield Group corporate homepage. Retrieved 15 August 2007.)
  2. ↑ Councillors stand fast against more Downtown signage – The Bob Dey Property Report, Tuesday 20 September 2005. Retrieved 15 August 2007.
  3. ↑ Gibson, Anne (17 April 2006). "Mega mall looms over retailers". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  4. ↑ "Westfield NZ property portfolio slips below $3 billion". National Business Review. NZPA. 17 February 2010. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  5. ↑ Gibson, Anne (7 April 2007). "Options for Downtown mall wide open". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  6. ↑ Public get no say on waterside skyscraper – The New Zealand Herald, Tuesday 22 April 2008, A1
  7. ↑ Rudman, Brian (5 May 2008). "Brian Rudman: Rubber-stamp for Westfield's 41-storey monstrosity beggars belief". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  8. ↑ Dearnaley, Mathew (14 October 2008). "Tunnel deal brings rail loop step closer". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 3 December 2011.
  9. ↑ L, Matt (2013-07-08). "Britomart’s Birthday celebrated with news part of CRL to start Early". Transportblog.co.nz. Transportblog.co.nz. Retrieved 2014-01-24. The council is in the process of negotiating with them to build the CRL tunnels through the site at the same time so that they don’t have to hold the development up or go back and do it later on. This is significant for many reasons, first of which is that it means the CRL is officially being started in 2016 but that isn’t the only thing. It means that Auckland Transport no longer need to purchase the entire site saving around $80 million.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Westfield Downtown.

Coordinates: 36°50′39″S 174°45′58″E / 36.8442°S 174.7660°E / -36.8442; 174.7660

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