PLANS for a multi-million dollar expansion and refurbishment of the Armadale Plaza shopping centre are on the drawing board, with owners Westzone Enterprises Pty Ltd now searching for a major retailer and several specialty stores to move in.
Part owner and centre manager Ken Short said that, after completing a $1 million upgrade of the nearby Red Rooster and Gull Service Station sites, the company was entirely focused on the improvement of the centre and would consider purpose-building part of the expansion to suit a major tenants needs.
“It is a major redevelopment and our aim is to enlarge the retail space considerably,” he said.
“We want to include a major retailer and about 1100sqm to 1200sqm to be taken up by specialty shops.
“We have looked very hard at cinemas, discount department stores and supermarkets as tenant options.”
Westzone Enterprises bought the plaza in 1996 and has been working on redevelopment ideas for the past few months.
Initial plans for the project have been drawn up by Steve Shircore, of Perth-based firm Meyer Shircore Architects, and Westzone hopes to start the project this year.
Mr Short said that, with the nearest cinema 19 kilometres away at the Carousel Shopping Centre, an Armadale complex would have a good catchment.
“Armadale is one of Perth’s eight strategic regional centres and has a very large catchment, from not only the immediate area but from the south and south-eastern areas as well,” he said.
Renovation plans for the Jull Street plaza are timely, with the recent decision by the City of Armadale to call for expressions of interest in running a cinema.
The call will be made at the end of the month.
City development services director John Adderley said that, after the closure of the Pioneer Village single screen theatre and the drive-in cinema, Armadale had been left without a cinema for several years.
“And we will soon be looking for interested operators to build a cinema in the Armadale Strategic Regional Centre,” Mr Adderley said.
The announcement comes on the heels of one from Harvey Norman, which last week unveiled plans to build a major retail showroom on the South Western Highway, near Jull Street.
Planning and Infrastructure Minister Alannah MacTiernan hailed the decision as a big boost to an area, which had regularly been overlooked by private investors in favour of its neighbour, Cannington.
“I believe the important but neglected Armadale business centre will enter a new phase of confidence built on flourishing public and private investment,” Ms MacTiernan said.