Westfield Albany

Westfield Albany is a shopping centre in Albany, New Zealand, opposite the Albany Lakes Civic Park. It is majority owned (51%) by Scentre Group with the remainder owned by the Singapore Government's GIC Private Limited. Until 2014 it was wholly owned by Scentre Group, which was formerly part of Westfield Group.Once the last sections opened in April 2008, at 7 ha (70,000 m²) of indoor space (4.9 ha retail and 2.1 ha offices), and costing around NZ$ 210 million to construct.Westfield Albany provides over 2,000 carparks for around 150 specialty stores, as well as a large-format 2 floor 10,000 m² Farmers, a Kmart and a New World, and also contains an Event Cinemas multiplex cinema and a 560-seat food court which includes major fastfood franchises.History and developmentThe centre was Westfield's first totally new mall since entering the New Zealand market in the mid-90s. When first mooted in 2003, it was conceived as a much smaller centre, with only 20,000 m² planned for initially, and a comparatively small later expansion of 15,000 m² mooted for a decade later. Westfield is already planning a large further expansion of the centre. Some experts see demand for about twice the size of the current centre in retail and associated office space in the wider Albany area. However, Westfield itself has in the past put in submissions against a District Plan plan change in the area, contending that it allowed for "excessive retail provision in the Albany area" (in a northern 'mainstreet' area separate from the core where Westfield and a number of other retailers have their sites). The challenge was rejected by the Environment Court.