Westfield Warringah Mall

This article is about the major shopping centre. For other uses of the name, see Warringah.

Westfield Warringah Mall, previously known as Warringah Mall, is a large indoor/outdoor shopping centre in the suburb of Brookvale in the Northern Beaches region of Sydney.

Westfield Warringah Mall

Entrance to Westfield Warringah Mall from Condamine Street
Location	Brookvale, New South Wales, Australia
Coordinates	33°46′04″S 151°15′58″E
Address	Condamine Street
Opening date	4 April 1963
Management	Scentre Group
Owner	Scentre Group
No. of stores and services	381
No. of anchor tenants	8
Total retail floor area	131,589 m2 (1,416,412 sq ft)
No. of floors	3
Parking	4,650 spaces
Public transit access	Warringah Mall
Website	westfield.com.au/warringahmall

"Pacific Family" by Victor Cusack (1988), at the centre court

Another fountain at Westfield Warringah Mall

History

Warringah Mall opened on 4 April 1963 and was developed by Hammerson Group and was the second largest shopping centre at the time with Chadstone Shopping Centre being the largest. The centre was partially built on the site of 'Brookvale House', which was built by Sydney Alexander Malcolm in 1883 and was sold in 1961 to the Hooker Investment Corporation. Warringah Mall contained around 50 stores, including David Jones, Nock & Kirby, Franklins and Woolworths. Ten years later, the centre saw the opening of a new Grace Bros store which was upgraded from a homemakers store in 1973. The same year, a fire broke out in the original Woolworths store, killing two female workers. Fifty more speciality stores have also opened, followed by the opening of the Hoyts Twin Cinema Complex in the early 1980s.

Warringah Mall was featured in the movie BMX Bandits with two young BMX experts, P.J. (Angelo D'Angelo) and Goose (James Lugton), who meet Judy (Nicole Kidman), who was working as a trolley collector. In the mid-1980s, a Target store was opened along with 20 specialty stores. To commemorate the Australian Bicentenary, Warringah Shire Council commissioned local sculptor Victor Cusack to create a central fountain for the mall. Entitled "Pacific Family", it was unveiled by Deputy Shire President Julie Sutton on 23 November 1988.

Warringah Mall was included in the sale of Hammerson's Australian property portfolio to AMP Capital in 1994. In 1998, Warringah Mall underwent stage 2 of redevelopment and was officially opened in December 1999. The development included a new food court and entertainment precincts with the opening of Hoyts and Galaxy World, it also included the opening of new stores next to the food court including Rebel Sport, Surf Dive ‘n' Ski and Warringah Mall Library which opened near Hoyts. The old areas also had a makeover which was to introduce a quality homewares precinct with retailers such as Wheel & Barrow and Dick Smith Powerhouse in 2000. Franklins closed in 2001 and was by replaced by Priceline Pharmacy. The same year German global discount supermarket Aldi opened outside the centre on the corner of Cross and Green Street. Aldi previously had plans to open inside the centre but was rejected by AMP Capital due to disputes between rival supermarkets Coles and Woolworths.

In March 2003 Westfield Group purchased a 25 per cent shareholding, this was increased to 50 per cent in October 2012. AMP Capital and the Westfield Group swapped interests in seven centres, including Warringah Mall which became a 50/50 joint venture between the two companies. As part of the deal, centre management transferred from AMP to Westfield with the centre rebranded Westfield Warringah Mall. In July 2014, as part of a, restructure of the Westfield Group, it came under the control of the Scentre Group.

In January 2015, in preparation for the $310 million redevelopment up to ten stores were closed and relocated. Two carparks were closed and demolished in February 2015 and hoardings were erected around the centre court area. Around that time Myer began its refurbishment, shrinking from three levels to two. The store continued to trade during the refurbishment until February 2016 when it temporarily closed to allow for works to continue.

The $310 million redevelopment began in August 2015 with stage one of the redevelopment completed by June 2016. Westfield Warringah Mall unveiled its 1200 spaces five-level car park and a new fresh food court which was opened by My Kitchen Rules 2015 winners Will and Steve on 30th June 2016.

Stage two of the redevelopment was completed by November 2016 with the grand opening on 17th November 2016. The two-level Myer was officially opened by Australian model Jennifer Hawkins.

This stage two development features two new mini majors a two-level H&M, Cotton On Mega and an Anaconda store, a new two-level parallel mall linking Myer and the existing centre (built over an existing carpark) and a new refurbished centre court with a new look "Pacific Family" fountain and a water feature and a surfboard-inspired sculpture known as "Whitewash" (made from 43 chrome surfboards) by Laura Enever outside Myer. 70 new stores (including 50 fashion stores including H&M and Sephora) were added to the centre.

2019 redevelopment proposal

Plans for the $226 million redevelopment will include a new relocated Hoyts Cinema on level 3, addition of 35 food outlets including licensed premises together, 15 speciality retailers, 10 small outlets and one major store. They will be located on the three levels as part of the additional 10,000sqm of extra retail space. The existing food court on level 1 will be expanded to the south with addition of six food court outlets. The restaurant precinct on level two will feature views overlooking Brookvale Creek and the Warringah golf course. The redevelopment will add modifications to existing specialty stores and the existing Kmart store on the ground level are also planned. The number of parking spaces will increase to a total of 5,093. This development follows the 2008 master plan of the centre. A 14-month timeline has been estimated for completion of the project. The plans for the centre had been decided in May.

Tenants

Westfield Warringah Mall has 131,589m² of floor space. The major retailers include David Jones, Myer, Big W, Kmart, Coles, Woolworths, Bunnings, Cotton On, H&M, TK Maxx, JB Hi-Fi, Rebel, Anaconda and Hoyts Cinema

Transport

Westfield Warringah Mall has bus connections to the Sydney CBD, Lower North Shore and the Northern Beaches, as well as local surrounding suburbs operated by Keolis Downer Northern Beaches. The majority of the bus services are located on Pittwater Road and the bus interchange inside the centre.

Westfield Warringah Mall also has multi-level car parks with 4,650 spaces.

Incidents and accidents

• On 29 August 1969, security guard Joseph Charles Coffman was shot and killed by an unknown assailant. It appeared that Coffman was attacked from behind with a blow to the neck, and then shot through the shoulder with what appeared to have been his own revolver. 17,000 cigarettes were found at the scene, so Coffman may have interrupted a robbery in progress. Les Howarth, a 15 year old youth of Balgowlah, accompanied Coffman on his patrol, who was asleep in the security service car at the time of the shooting. A vehicle was seen speeding away from the mall, and a stolen car was found abandoned 17 kilometres away in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park.
• On 2 May 2012, a man was fatally stabbed at a bus stop at around 11:40pm. He was given first aid before paramedics arrived and he was taken to the Royal North Shore Hospital. He was declared dead on arrival. A 25-year-old male had been arrested but found not guilty due to mental illness.
• On 23 June 2015, a security guard was almost set on fire by a man who was high on ice. The security guard found the man slumped over on the stairs, unresponsive and with his eyes closed.
• On 21 April 2016, a section of the centre was evacuated following reports of a possible bomb threat at the construction site. Access to a small parking area was restricted and the construction site was evacuated from the area at the north of the site, but shoppers were not affected.
• On 7 January 2019, a woman was stabbed by a teenage girl while trying to break up a fight at a nail salon at around 3:00 pm. Two teenage girls, aged 14 and 13, had an altercation when the woman intervened and suffered a knife injury to her arm. Paramedics treated the woman at the scene before being taken to Royal North Shore Hospital. The 13-year-old was later charged.
• On 22 April 2024, a 29-year old man believed to be a worker fell 3m from the awning over the walkway between two stores, landing face forward on the hard surface, breaking both his arms and hitting his head. He was taken to Royal North Shore Hospital for further treatment, the investigation is still underway to determine what had happened.

External links

• Official website