Westfield Doncaster

Westfield Doncaster

File:Westfiel 10072.jpg Proposed look of the centre by October 16, 2008
Location	Doncaster, Victoria, Australia
Coordinates	37°47′00″S 145°07′30″E
Opening date	30 September 1969
Management	Westfield Group
Owner	Westfield Group 50% since Aug 2007
No. of stores and services	currently 307.
No. of floors	3 (Ground, Level 1, Level 2 [Dining & Entertainment Precinct])
Parking	3,300 approx (August 2008)
Website	westfield.com/doncaster

Westfield Doncaster (better known by locals as 'Shoppo' or 'Doncaster Shoppingtown') is a shopping centre 50% owned by the Westfield Group and 50% owned by LaSalle Investment Management (as of August 2007) located in Doncaster, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is located on the corner of Williamsons Road and Doncaster Road in the Doncaster Hill precinct, an ongoing planning initiative by the local Manningham council. It is located 20 minutes east of the CBD and is one of the biggest shopping centres in Victoria.

History

Westfield Doncaster officially opened on 30 September 1969. It is Westfield's first entry to Victoria. The original $12-million centre consisted of the four storey Myer building at the north end, two levels of shops running along the west side to the then white eight-storey office tower. On the east side the two layers of shops turned into one layer. Coles New World was where the first food court later opened but closed due to 2007-08 upgrade.

In the early 1980s the centre was extended south with two single-storey rows of shops, Kmart, Coles and Village Twin Cinemas. A major redevelopment completed in 1992 saw the centre expand further. A second level of shops was added to the south end including Franklins and a fresh food court above Coles and Kmart. Outside, the colours were a jarring Californian design and local protests saw Westfield alter the image in line with local tastes. However, as the 21st century arrived, time had dulled the looks of the centre following redevelopments of other Westfield centres such as Southland, Fountain Gate and even Sydney's Bondi Junction.

The latest revitalisation, which started in January 2007, after years of applying for a permit, saw the centre get a full makeover. It involved an overall modernisation of the centre, renovated Coles and Safeway supermarkets plus a Fresh Food market (Colonial Fresh Markets), new Big-W and Target (replacing K-Mart), refurbished Myer, new David Jones, a Borders store. many new mini majors such as JB Hi-Fi, a larger 9 screen Village Cinemas, a black label Fitness First Gym which replaced the old Donacster library, now located in Precinct One, a new food court known as the Doncaster Drum located on the corner of Williamsons and Doncaster Roads which has sweeping views of Melbourne, new restaurants on the rooftop level, a new bus interchange and over 1000 extra parking spaces, mostly undercover, in a new and modern 6 level parking lot with a state of the art system that guides you to a free space. This unfortunately for Doncaster residents will show the start of paid parking, but at a very low price (first 3 hours free). The number of stores is to be doubled to 400. It is due to complete on the 16 of October, 2008. More details below.

2007-08 redevelopment

Comparison table

	Before	After
Number of shops	202 stores	400 stores
Major stores	Myer Coles Kmart Safeway Village 2 Cinemas	Myer David Jones Coles Safeway Colonial Fresh Markets Target Big W Borders Village 9 Cinemas JB Hi-fi Dick Smith Electronics Fitness First Platinum
Car park spaces	3,480	5,000 (currently 3,300 car parks)
Retail space (gross lettable area)	51,000m²	109,732m²

Preliminary works at the centre from September to December, 2006 provided a platform for the main construction works that commenced on 15 January 2007. By October 2008 the centre will be double the previous size, costing approximately $600 million. It will feature more than 200 new retailers (for a total around 400), a Village Cinemas complex and dining areas that take advantage of the site’s elevated views towards the city skyline. The works required the closure of around 100 stores during 2007 and early 2008, with Myer the only major store remaining open throughout the project.

Due to the revitalisation, Kmart shut down and was replaced by two new discount stores - Big W and Target. Coles and Safeway both closed in January 2007 and both supermarkets re-opened on Thursday 10th April 2008. Target and Big W were both expected to open on June 18 2008, however both these openings were pushed back to Thursday 7th August 2008. The Village Twin Cinemas on Williamsons Road were demolished in September 2006 to make way for a multi-level car park, now open, with new cinemas to be built above. The Westfield Shoppingtown Library was also demolished and moved to a temporary location in the Municipal Offices. Since then, the Manningham council has decided to permanently relocate it to the council's civic precinct (Precinct One) rather than return it to Westfield Doncaster.

Arrivals include a new David Jones department store, a Big W discount department store and the new Target store - all in the second half of 2008. Other features include new electrical stores, Dick Smith Electronics and JB Hi-Fi, which are both now open, expanded dining areas including rooftop restaurants and gourmet fresh food shops. The new Village Cinemas complex on the rooftop level will include Gold Class cinemas. The centre will also have improved access, mostly undercover parking and new landscaping.

On April 10 2008 the first stage opening saw a much-larger Coles supermarket (latest format) and Safeway supermarket return to their old locations at the south (Doncaster Rd) end, alongside 70-plus other new and returning retailers, including a large-format Colonial Fresh Markets, which opened next to Coles. Some retailers are opening their first stores, including Jones The Grocer, which will open its first Melbourne store, OxFam opening its first food store and That Store. Many other stores have relocated to the new precinct or to other positions in the centre and stores that were gone throughout the revitalisation have returned.

Westfield Doncaster also introduced a new service called Westfield Butler. This service is for people who don't have the time to do shopping themselves. A group of six butlers will do different tasks, from grocery shopping, to planning weddings or functions. And you can get delivery. Unfortunately, the service does not come cheap, you will be charged 20 percent of the total cost or 10 dollars a delivery. Another new service recently started is Westfield Gizmo. It is a technology service that offers customers a technology installation, upgrade or maintenance service. These "gizmotechs" can arrange to come to your home or you can let them go around the centre with you finding the hardware that suits you. Prices are fixed, but are quite high. Setting up a computer starts at $120 and prices go as high as almost $200.

Big W opened on the second floor on the 7th of August at the east side of the centre near where David Jones will be opening in October, to the east of Myer. Underneath the Big W location, the new Target store opened on the 1st level. 25 other stores also opened in this third stage opening. Most previous food court operators closed in late January 2007. The new dining area, named 'The Drum', with over 900-seat capacity, opened on the 26th of June 2008 in a new location overlooking the corner of Doncaster and Williamsons Rds. It features 18 new food stores with different types of foods. The Fitness First Platinum gym also opened on the 14th of August, one week after the stage 3 opening of Big W and Target.

In February 2008 a temporary bus interchange opened closer to Willamsons Road. This was to make way for changes to the centre entrance and an upgraded bus interchange.

The revitalisation of Westfield Doncaster is now in its final weeks of revitalisation, with only one stage to go. In this last stage, David Jones will open next to Myer, which will reopen after a major refurbishment, the dining precinct on the rooftop level, a larger Village Cinemas with Gold Class will open above the Williamsons Road multideck carpark to replace the twin cinemas and the final carpark area next to David Jones will open. A new Borders store will also open at Westfield Doncaster in early December. The corner of Williamsons Road and Doncaster Road is starting to come together, with the glass drum pretty much complete and the red "wave wall" also done. Painting of the Myer Building and the Office Tower also have given these buildings a more modern look to match the rest of the revamped centre. The interior is also near completion with most of the inside of the centre getting new marble tiling, seating, more modern balustrades and supports, directories, escalators, lighting and other fittings.

• 
  Construction of Westfield Doncaster in its early stages in 2007
• Level One of the new part of Westfield Doncaster, opened in stage one back in April 2008
  Level One of the new part of Westfield Doncaster, opened in stage one back in April 2008
• The New Doncaster Fresh Food Market, opened in April 2008
  The New Doncaster Fresh Food Market, opened in April 2008

Retailers and layout

The "Old Look" Office tower at Westfield Doncaster, taken before 2008 redevelopment

The shopping centre is now a double rectangular-shaped building, with both lines of shops linked at three points, with two individual levels that span most of the length of the complex. Major retailers were previously located on either end of the centre, but now are located in various locations.These retailers include:

• Myer department store being fully refurbished throughout 2008. Due to reopen in October.
• David Jones Opening October 16 2008
• Safeway Supermarket
• Coles Supermarket
• Colonial Fresh Markets Fresh Produce Store
• Target Department Store
• Big W Department Store
• Village Cinemas including Gold Class Opening October 16 2008
• JB Hi-Fi electrical
• Dick Smith Electronics
• Borders opening December 2 2008
• Fitness First Platinum

Transport

There were previously about 3,500 car parking spaces, with the majority surface car park variety. The site also had multi-storey and rooftop parking which allowed disabled access. Due to the current (2007-08) renovations, on-site parking has been heavily restricted. With the new development however the car parking spaces will increase to 5,000 which is a significant improvement for the development.

Public Transport

Doncaster Shoppingtown only has bus for public transport. The bus interchange off Williamsons Road acts as a major hub for transport activity in the Doncaster district. Situated between two rail lines, the only public transport to Westfield Doncaster is bus services. Westfield Doncaster is served by school routes (155 & 159), services linking it to the Melbourne CBD (200 201 205 203 207 305 & 307) Route 291 which is part of the Red Orbital SmartBus (however, Route 291 is not yet an official SmartBus route but it operates between every 10-20 minutes depending on the time of day), as well as to local City of Manningham areas (279 281 283 284 285 289 293 295 364 and 365). The new bus bay has been opened, however, half is still closed and therefore, half of the replacement terminal is still in use. Bay numbers are still the same.

bay	route	destination
1	155, 159	Warrandyte School Bus Services
1	289	Donvale/Tunstall Square
1	295	The Pines
1	305	The Pines or Deep Creek or Warrandyte Bridge
2	200	CITY Lonsdale St via Bulleen and Eastern Freeway
2	205	Melbourne University via Kew Junction
2	291	Heidelberg
3	207	Donvale
3	283	Doncaster-Templestowe Loop
3	307	Mitcham
4	281	Eltham Station via Templestowe
4	293	Greensborough via Templestowe
4	364	Ringwood via The Pines, Warrandyte
5	200, 201, 207	City via Bulleen or Belmore Road or Park n Ride and Kew Junction
6	155,159	Kew Schools - School Bus Service
6	200, 201, 207	CITY Lonsdale St via Kew Junction
6	305, 307	CITY Queen St via Freeway
7		Bus Set Down Bay
8	279, 284	Box Hill via Templestowe and Middleborough Rd or Park n Ride and Union Road
9	289	Box Hill via Elgar Road
9	365	Ringwood via Park Orchards
10	291, 293, 295	Box Hill via Station Street

Throughout the 1970s the Doncaster line was mooted to run down the middle of the Eastern Freeway, with a station at Westfield Doncaster. By 1984 land for the line once it left the freeway had been sold, and by 1991 an independent report investigating construction of the line recommended against it due to the high cost of underground construction. Various plans have also been made for extension of the Balwyn North route 48 tram north to Doncaster.

See also

• List of shopping centres in Australia

External links

• Official Website
• Official Website of the New Precinct
• Doncaster Hill 20 year strategy