Burwood Plaza
 Main entrance on Railway Parade (pictured in 2022) | |
 | |
| Location | Burwood, New South Wales |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 33°52′39″S 151°06′09″E / 33.877507°S 151.102561°E |
| Opening date | 1978 |
| Closing date | 2025 (planned) |
| Management | Holdmark Property Group |
| No. of stores and services | 46 (2022) |
| No. of anchor tenants | 1 |
| Total retail floor area | 12,361 m2 (133,050 sq ft) |
| No. of floors | 3 |
| Parking | 1 |
| Public transit access |  Burwood |
| Website | www |
Burwood Plaza is a small 1970s-style two-storey shopping centre located in the suburb of Burwood in Sydney's Inner West, Australia.
Origins
[edit]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
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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] The location of the centre was strategic as it was close to Burwood train station, and the centre was designed to be a supplies stop for pedestrians boarding the trains.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]
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 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.[citation needed]
Acquisition and redevelopment
[edit]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.[citation needed]
Gallery
[edit]-
View outside of the main entrance -
Level 1 area near Woolworths Supermarket -
Subway franchise on Level 1 -
Level 2 area near Lowes Menswear
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References
[edit]- ^ "History of Burwood Plaza" (PDF).
- ^ "Sciences at Burwood, Strathfield and Concord.Burwood Plaza Shopping..." Getty Images. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Holdmark buys Burwood Plaza for a hefty 80m".
- ^ 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.
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