Macquarie Centre

Macquarie Centre is a regional sized shopping centre located between Herring, Waterloo and Talevera Roads in the suburb of Macquarie Park in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and opposite Macquarie University's main campus.

The centre contains 250 retail stores over four-levels including Woolworths, Franklins, Myer, Target (Australia), Big W, Borders, JB Hi-Fi, as well as Greater Union cinema complex, and an ice rink.

AMP Wholesale Shopping Centre Trust No. 2 and Westfield Management Limited both own a fifty percent stake in Macquarie Centre, the centre is managed and leased by AMP Capital Shopping Centres.

Transport

Macquarie Centre currently has bus connections to the Sydney CBD, Chatswood, Parramatta, Castle Hill, Strathfield, Manly as well as local surrounding suburbs Marsfield, Eastwood, Epping, Ryde and Gladesville and other suburbs.

The centre is also located 150 metres from the Macquarie University station on the Epping to Chatswood railway line, which is due for completion in December 2008.

History

Macquarie Centre was built in 1981, and has seen many renovations since. The last was in 2000 when the 'Escape' and 'Loft' areas where opened, this included a major facelift to the shopping centre's entrances, extra parking and new retail stores incl. Borders, Dick Smith Powerhouse, Freedom, new food outlets and an expansion of the Greater Union cinema complex, from 8 to 16 cinema's.

Macquarie Ice Skating Rink (located in Macquarie Centre) was used for the 1991 World Short Track Speed Skating Championships. [Smart, G. & Bradbury, S., "Steven Bradbury: Last Man Standing", ISBN 0-9757287-8-4, 2005.]

Future plans

On 20 December 2007, AMP Capital Shopping Centres, acting on behalf of the co-owners: AMP Wholesale Shopping Centre Trust No. 2 and Westfield Management Limited, lodged a Development Application (DA) with Ryde City Council which went on Public Exhibition on 23 January 2008.

As part of the masterplanning of Macquarie Centre, a 3-stage development has been planned, however to date a DA has only been lodged with Ryde City Council for Stage 1. Pending DA approval, Stage 1 is expected to commence in early 2009, with an opening in 2010.

Stage 1 incorporates a plan to increase the number of retail stores from 250 to approximately 350. The centre will increase in size from approximately 97,000 sqm to 130,000 sqm with the number of car spaces available increasing from 4,000 to 5,400. [* [http://www.macquariecentre.com.au/ The Macquarie Centre web site] ]

*David Jones (proposed) - Replacing Myer
*Harvey Norman (proposed) - Replacing Big W
*Red Rooster (proposed)

References

External links

* [http://www.macquariecentre.com.au/ The Macquarie Centre web site]
* [http://www.sydneymate.com/travel_sydney_australia/Recreation/IceSkatingMq/recreation_australia_1.htm#writereview A guide to Macquarie Ice Skating Centre - an ice rink in the shopping centre]
* [http://www.ampcapital.com.au/corporatecentre/shoppingcentres/default.asp AMP Capital Shopping Centres]