The Burwood Plaza Shopping Centre

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The Burwood Plaza Shopping Centre
The Burwood Plaza Shopping Centre logo
Burwood Plaza 2022.jpg
Main entrance on Railway Parade
Map
LocationBurwood, New South Wales
Coordinates33°52′39″S 151°06′09″E / 33.877507°S 151.102561°E / -33.877507; 151.102561Coordinates: 33°52′39″S 151°06′09″E / 33.877507°S 151.102561°E / -33.877507; 151.102561
Opening date1978; 46 years ago (1978)
Closing date2025 (planned)
ManagementHoldmark Property Group
No. of stores and services46 (2022)
No. of anchor tenants1
Total retail floor area12,361 m2 (133,050 sq ft)
No. of floors3
Parking1
Websitewww.burwoodplaza.com.au

The Burwood Plaza Shopping Centre (commonly and formerly officially known as Burwood Plaza) is a regional shopping centre owned by Holdmark Property Group. It is located in the suburb of Burwood in Sydney's Inner West. Burwood Plaza is anchored by a Woolworths supermarket and also includes a number of East Asian specialty shops due to the large Chinese immigrant presence in the suburb. Due to the lack in investment into the property by Holdmark in preparation for demolition and future redevelopment, Burwood Plaza has become known as one of Australia's few dying shopping centres.

Origins

The site where Burwood Plaza now lies was once the site of Burwood's first theatre which opened in 1910. It was replaced by the Palatial Theatre which opened in 1921 and featured the first Christie pipe organ in a local theatre. The Palatial closed in 1971 and the space was used by the Royal Blind Society, then as a carpet showroom.[1]

History

Outdoor signage above the main entrance.

Burwood Plaza opened in 1978 as a competitor to the neighbouring Westfield Burwood shopping centre and was originally anchored by a Waltons department store.[2] In the early 1990s a Franklins Big Fresh replaced the anchor tenant space where the Waltons department store was previously located. This would leave Burwood Plaza without a proper department store. Franklins Big Fresh would soon close in 2001 and was replaced with a Woolworths supermarket, which became the new anchor tenant.

The centre has not received any major renovations since its opening in 1978, even before the ownership of Holdmark Property Group. One example of the lack of investment in the property is the outdoor signage, which has not been updated since late 1988, even though the official corporate logo for the centre has been changed multiple times since. The most recent renovation to the exterior of the building is the updated Woolworths supermarket signage following a company-wide rebrand.

On 14 November 2015, a small scale Toys "R" Us store opened a location on the space of the former Best & Less clothing store.[3] Due to company-wide financial issues within Toys "R" Us unrelated to the centre, the Toys "R" Us location closed in August 2018 and the current tenant, Japanese 100-yen shop Daiso soon opened a store on the former location.

Burwood Plaza has been in a rapid decline of shoppers since late 2021 due to lack of significant investment into the building in preparation for the redevelopment and the opening of several stores in the neighbouring Westfield Burwood shopping centre which were similar to previous tenants of Burwood Plaza. This has led to tenants removing their presence in the centre, leaving empty tenant spaces. Beginning in 2022, some of the empty tenant spaces were used for COVID-19 vaccination.

Acquisition and redevelopment

In November 2014, Parramatta-based Holdmark Property Group acquired Burwood Plaza from Centuria Property Funds for a price of around $80 million.[4] With plans for the site to be used to build a commercial complex known as Burwood Place, with a new convenience centered shopping centre. The current centre is expected to close in early 2025.[5] In January 2019, various renders of the development were released to the public, disagreements from the local Burwood community created a small opposition to the redevelopment.

Gallery

References

  1. ^ "History of Burwood Plaza" (PDF).
  2. ^ "Sciences at Burwood, Strathfield and Concord.Burwood Plaza Shopping..." Getty Images. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  3. ^ "Toys"R"Us to Pop up in Burwood this Christmas ‹ Bugg Toys & Licensing". buggtoysandlicensing.com. Archived from the original on 7 July 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  4. ^ "Holdmark buys Burwood Plaza for a hefty 80m".
  5. ^ Cutcher, Ned; Contributor (3 June 2021). "What's wrong with 1000 new apartments in the heart of Burwood?". The Fifth Estate. Retrieved 10 May 2022. {{cite web}}: |last2= has generic name (help)

External links