[PRO] Westfield Marion

[metro]

They really need to do something about the food court at marion, like open it up and make it bigger.

also i hope they doze this whole section of the mall, it's so tacky and cheap:


I dont think it's changed since my first visit to the centre in 1998. An expansion is definitly long overdue.

[ricecrackers]

They really need to do something about the food court at marion, like open it up and make it bigger.

also i hope they doze this whole section of the mall, it's so tacky and cheap:


I dont think it's changed since my first visit to the centre in 1998. An expansion is definitly long overdue.

i love the tackiness
my only hope is they expand on the tackiness and include an Eiffel Tower, a pyramid and a medieval castle

[AtD]

The Statue of Liberty should do a dance every hour on the hour.

[pushbutton]

I don't mind a bit of colour and "theatre" here and there. If that's "tackiness" then I think there's sometimes room for a certain amount of tackiness in shopping centres, provided the overall look of the building is smart and aesthetically pleasing.

Unfortunately the overall look of Westfield Marion is very far from smart or aesthetically pleasing. Unfortunately due to space limitations, I think if anything the look of the centre externally is only going to get worse with the next extension, because they'll have to build more undercover / multi-level parking, and that rarely looks attractive!

Whilst I support the new swimming centre being built next door, in a way it's a shame Westfield didn't buy all the land that was known as "the domain" (which includes the swimming centre and medical centre land plus the land now occupied by Bunnings, Centrelink and the Marion cultural centre). That way they could have had lots of additional open carparking, and more space to expand the centre without making it increasingly ugly.

Still though, it all seems a bit academic now as that land is occupied and the swimming centre and medical centre are being built, and there is still no news on when the next Westfield development will go ahead (even though it was scheduled to start in May 2007). Usual story!!!

[monotonehell]

Westfields tend to be very inward facing, with nothing but miles of car infested parking surrounding bare walls. Even the ones in the States look the same.

[metro]

Westfields tend to be very inward facing, with nothing but miles of car infested parking surrounding bare walls. Even the ones in the States look the same.

I think a couple of centre's in Sydney's burbs have big outdoor courtyards that are very well used. Although the couple i'm thinking of are run by Lendlease not Westfield. Erina Fair and Macarthur Square, both are pretty good looking centres, but Macarthur Square is unfortunatly in an area more bogan than Elizabeth

[pushbutton]

From the images I have seen Westfield London looks pretty spectacular inside and outside.

The best looking Westfield I have seen in person is West Lakes. t's not exactly spectacular but at least most of the exterior has a reasonably pleasing colour scheme to it, looks modern, and the entrances are fairly smart and easily identifiable. As I said it's not the nicest building I've ever seen, but it beats Marion and TTP by miles aesthetically.

[Maximus]

Westfields tend to be very inward facing, with nothing but miles of car infested parking surrounding bare walls. Even the ones in the States look the same.

You're dead right with that! Approaching a Westfield you've never been to before can just leave you thinking, "Where the <censored> do I go in?!" It's certainly not very welcoming IMHO. But perhaps I expect too much from my shopping centres...

[Isiskii]

You're dead right with that! Approaching a Westfield you've never been to before can just leave you thinking, "Where the <censored> do I go in?!" It's certainly not very welcoming IMHO. But perhaps I expect too much from my shopping centres...

Uh, you just go in where in says "Mall Entry"... duh.

[crawf]

Westfields tend to be very inward facing, with nothing but miles of car infested parking surrounding bare walls. Even the ones in the States look the same.

You're dead right with that! Approaching a Westfield you've never been to before can just leave you thinking, "Where the <censored> do I go in?!" It's certainly not very welcoming IMHO. But perhaps I expect too much from my shopping centres...

Westfield Marion is notorious for this.

Yet West Lakes is totality the opposite and you can easy identify the entrances, maybe because the centre was previously owned by another company.

[pushbutton]

Westfield West Lakes is just a much better designed building, although the last extension didn't really do it any favours and the side of the mall where the cinemas and food court are located is a bit of a mess (and that extension wasn't designed by Westfield). Still looks much nicer than Westfield Marion or TTP though!

[Ben]

Will have to keep an eye on this, could lead to the announcement of developments starting once the funding has been recieved.

From the Australian:

Westfield Group eyes $3.5bn raising, asset split

EXCLUSIVE: John Durie and Florence Chong From: The Australian November 02, 2010 4:26PM

WESTFIELD will tomorrow unveil a split of its Australian retail assets into a separate company to be called Westfield Retail.

The spin-off will raise up to $3.5 billion through the issue of new shares and is expected to have $9 billion of assets.

The deal is aimed at unleashing value for the company to give more flexibility for further expansion.

The equity raising will be led by Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Credit Suisse.

The company rang other brokers this morning to offer a role in the deal, which explains why word leaked out into the market.

Morgan Stanley is advising the company on the deal, which will be by way of distribution to shareholders of 50 per cent of the Australian assets with the parent company to own the other 50 per cent.

The market had been abuzz with speculation that Westfield was about to make a “major” announcement tomorrow.

This afternoon, Westfield responded to "media speculations" and requested a trading halt, until the market opened tomorrow.

In its ASX statement, Westfield said it requested a trading halt in respect of its shares pursuant to Listing Rule 17.1, pending a further announcement about a possible transaction.

Sources said that Westfield would be doing the raising for acquisitions and to fund its development program.

They suggested that Westfield was considering buying some of the assets expected to come to the market from the $4.5bn Centro portfolio, as it ramps up its Australian operation.

Throughout the global financial crisis, Westfield’s Australian operation held up and helped offset the sluggishness of US retail sales.

Westfield, the world's largest shopping centre owner, has 119 centres, of which 44 centres are located in Australia, valued at $22bn. The rest is located mostly in the US, Britain and New Zealand.

Last week, Westfield opened the first stage of its $1.2bn Sydney Westfield project.

Speculation continues in the market that half of the centre could be for sale.

These sources said that part of the raising could be to fund its huge pipeline of development.

The group currently has projects underway, costing $4.4bn.

Westfield has a deep development pipeline, particularly in Australia, where it is currently developing two projects.

The group last came to the market in February last year when it raised $2.9bn at $10.50 per unit. In that offer, the units were offered at a 13 per cent discount.

At June 30, the group had assets under management of $61.7bn, and gearing ratio of 37.4 per cent. It had available liquidity of $7.3bn.

[pushbutton]

It does say they're doing this specifically to raise funds for aquisitions and developments, so I'd say there's a very strong chance at least one of the SA developments might finally get to go ahead in the first half of 2011. I won't expect this until such times as it's actually announced though. It only leads to disappointment.

[Ben]

Pandora are opening a store in the new "High End" mall by Christmas.

[Pikey]

Can't be too much longer before JB hi fi and Ted's Camera store move out. Now that JB has opened at Melrose park, in a much, much larger location, I'm surprised JB still has a presence at Marion.