Westfield Albany is a new shopping centre

Shopping mall

A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...

 of the Westfield Group in Albany, New Zealand

Albany, New Zealand

Albany is a northern suburb of Auckland, one of the several cities in northern New Zealand. The name derives from Alba and its Latinisation. It is located to the north of the Waitemata Harbour, 15 kilometres northwest of the Auckland city centre. The suburb is in the Albany ward, one of the...

, opposite the Albany Lakes Civic Park

Albany Lakes Civic Park

The Albany Lakes Civic Park is a public park located in Albany, Auckland, New Zealand. The park is located opposite of the Westfield Albany shopping mall in the centre of a new commercial / town centre area that is being developed....

. Once the last sections opened in April 2008, at 7 ha

Hectare

The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...

 (70,000 m²) of indoor space (4.9 ha retail [49,000 m²] and 2.1 ha [21,000 m²] offices), it became the largest shopping centre in New Zealand, eclipsing even recently opened Sylvia Park

Sylvia Park

Sylvia Park is a large business park and shopping centre in the Auckland, New Zealand suburb of Mount Wellington. Less commonly known, the area around the centre is also called Sylvia Park...

, and costing around NZ$ 210 million to construct. The Base, as at July 2010, NZ's second largest shopping centre at 61,000m2 will surpass Westfield Albany when the ground level of the Te Awa mall development is completed in 2011, being 75,000m2, New Zealand's first super regional centre.

Westfield Albany provides over 2,000 carparks for around 150 specialty stores, as well as a large-format 2 floor 10,000 m² Farmers

Farmers (department store)

The Farmers Trading Company is a New Zealand mid-market department store chain. Based in Flat Bush in Auckland, Farmers operates 56 stores across New Zealand, specialising in fashion, beauty, home-wares and furniture.- History :...

, a Kmart

Kmart Australia

Kmart Australia Limited is a discount department store chain owned by Wesfarmers. It operates 172 stores in Australia and 15 in New Zealand, with its head office located in Mulgrave, Victoria. Wesfarmers uses the Kmart name under licence from Sears Holdings Corporation.-History:Kmart Australia...

 and a New World

New World (supermarket)

New World is a New Zealand full-service supermarket chain owned by the Foodstuffs cooperative.Founded in 1963, New World was the first American-style full-service supermarket brand of Foodstuffs, and the second in New Zealand...

 major, and also contains a SkyCity multiplex cinema and a 560 seat food court which includes major fastfood franchises.

The centre has been estimated to have provided over 1,000 jobs during construction, and over 1,500 once in operation.

History and Development

The centre is Westfield's first totally new mall since entering the New Zealand market in the mid-90s. When first mooted in 2003, it was conceived as a much smaller centre, with only 20,000 sqm planned for initially, and a comparatively small later expansion of 15,000 sqm mooted for a decade later.
Westfield is already planning a large further expansion of the centre. Some experts see demand for about twice the size of the current centre in retail and associated office space in the wider Albany area. However, Westfield itself has in the past put in submissions against a District Plan

District Plan

A District Plan is a statutory planning document of New Zealand's territorial authorities.Mainly covering land use/zoning questions, they have become required since the advent of the Resource Management Act 1991...

 plan change in the area, contending that it allowed for "excessive retail provision in the Albany area" (in a northern 'mainstreet' area separate from the core where Westfield and a number of other retailers have their sites). The challenge was rejected by the Environment Court.

The concept of the Albany mall is considered a (somewhat reluctant) new approach by Westfield, which has previously been accused of disregarding the outside effects of its malls, and of maximising commercial opportunities at the cost of the surrounding communities. Spurred by criticism as well as Council plans to develop a 'town centre' instead of simply providing retail areas, Westfield changed its standard greenfields

Greenfield land

Greenfield land is a term used to describe undeveloped land in a city or rural area either used for agriculture, landscape design, or left to naturally evolve...

-type plans for the new site, and developed a more open centre with 'main street' elements and some public areas. The change is considered a significant step away from the inward-looking shopping centres built in New Zealand in the 1990s, and North Shore Council hopes that the centre will integrate with the future growth in Albany rather than be a shopping destination alone.

Westfield Albany Stage I opened 30 August 2007, with 65 shops trading. The rest of the shops opened on 01 November 2007 after a main opening ceremony attended by Prime Minister Helen Clark

Helen Clark

Helen Elizabeth Clark, ONZ is a New Zealand political figure who was the 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand for three consecutive terms from 1999 to 2008...

 and Westfield Group Managing Director Steven Lowy, while the 10-screen cinemas' opening was delayed to April 2008.

In July 2008, the cinemas of the centre were closed preventively by Skycity cinemas due to weathertightness reasons. Problems with the roof had already caused a single cinema to be shut a month earlier. The cinemas were reopened about a week later.

On May 3rd, 2011 the mall was struck and partially damaged by a tornado

Awards

In 2008, the centre received the highest award of the New Zealand Property Council, with the judges calling the centre being one of "a new generation of its type" and having a good mix of leisure and entertainment with an emphasis on public spaces, which had been "designed to provide a focal point for the whole Albany community and beyond".

External links

• Westfield Albany (official shopping centre website)
• Design & Masterplan (Albany City Holdings Ltd. - includes 3D image with Westfield Albany at the centre of rendering)