Westfield Downtown
Encyclopedia
Auckland CBD
The Auckland CBD is the geographical and economic heart of the Auckland metropolitan area. Bounded by several major motorways and by the harbour coastline in the north, it is surrounded further out by mostly suburban areas...
, Auckland City
Auckland City
Auckland City was the city and local authority covering the Auckland isthmus and most of the islands of the Hauraki Gulf, in the North Island of New Zealand. On 1 November 2010 it was amalgamated into the wider Auckland Region under the authority of the new Auckland Council...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
. It is situated at 11-19 Customs Street West between Lower Albert Street and the Britomart Transport Centre
Britomart Transport Centre
Britomart Transport Centre is the CBD public transport hub of Auckland, New Zealand, and the northern terminus of the North Island Main Trunk line. It combines a bus interchange with a railway station in a former Edwardian post office, extended with expansive post-modernist architectural elements...
.
Shopping centre
The centre has approximately 80 stores on three floors, with the three major stores being The WarehouseThe Warehouse Group
The Warehouse Group Limited, founded by Stephen Tindall in 1982, is the largest department store retailer operating in New Zealand. The Warehouse is largely a discount store similar to Wal-Mart in the United States, however The Warehouse sells far more generic brand merchandise than other discount...
, Warehouse Stationary and Postie Plus. It is one of the few Westfield Group malls that does not provide a supermarket, but is also the only proper mall in the entire CBD area. It is also known for being covered almost completely by huge exterior billboard
Billboard (advertising)
A billboard is a large outdoor advertising structure , typically found in high traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertisements to passing pedestrians and drivers...
s, which have repeatedly drawn the ire of Council officers.
In 2005, the centre had retail sales of NZ$ 56.9 million, and 5.8 million customer visits per year. These are mostly CBD workers, tourists and the growing inner-city population. However, the centre has been called Westfield's most underperforming shopping centre in New Zealand. Lying in the middle of a much more densely built up CBD and being considered underdeveloped with only three stories above ground, various other plans for the site have been mooted in recent years. The centre, valued at NZ$ 79.1 million (2009 data), could therefore potentially become the site for a new office tower or hotel, though no decisions have yet been taken.
Planned skyscraper
In 2008, Westfield received approval via non-notified resource consent for a 41 storey office skyscraperSkyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
(including a 2 level retail podium) at the site of the current centre. The permission has come under fire, as it was granted without protection requirements for a future rail tunnel from Britomart Transport Centre
Britomart Transport Centre
Britomart Transport Centre is the CBD public transport hub of Auckland, New Zealand, and the northern terminus of the North Island Main Trunk line. It combines a bus interchange with a railway station in a former Edwardian post office, extended with expansive post-modernist architectural elements...
, which would have to pass right under the building. However, in October 2008, ONTRACK
OnTrack
OnTrack was a regional rail line that operated in Syracuse, New York from 1994 to 2007. During its operation, Syracuse was the smallest city in the United States to have regional train service. The line ran from Colvin Street on the city's south side via Syracuse University and Armory Square to the...
noted that it had reached an agreement in principle with the owners of Westfield Downtown to allow the tunnel route to be threaded through the future foundations.