Opening date 30 June 1964 No. of stores and services 204 Opened 30 June 1964 Phone +61 3 9878 7111 | Management Novion Property Group No. of anchor tenants 7 major
10 minor Total retail floor area 6 ha Number of stores and services 204 | |
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Location Forest Hill, Victoria, Australia Developer Pacific Shopping Centres Address 270 Canterbury Rd, Forest Hill VIC 3131, Australia Hours Open today · 9AM–5:30PMWednesday9AM–5:30PMThursday9AM–9PMFriday9AM–9PMSaturday9AM–5PMSunday10AM–5PMMonday9AM–5:30PMTuesday9AM–5:30PM Similar Burwood One, The Glen Shopping Centre, Westfield Doncaster, Westfield Knox, Eastland Shopping Centre Profiles | ||
Forest hill chase shopping centre
Forest Hill Chase Shopping Centre is a major regional shopping centre located in the eastern suburb of Forest Hill in Melbourne, Australia. Owned and managed by Vicinity Centres, the centre is among the oldest in Victoria, opening on 30 June 1964 as an outdoor strip shopping centre, before being developed over the years into its current three level indoor form. Currently, Forest Hill Chase contains 200 stores and over 3500 free car parking spaces. The centre has three supermarkets, two discount department stores and one traditional department store spread across 3 levels. The architecture is distinguished by a roof of polycarbonate construction with a barrel vault design.
Contents
- Forest hill chase shopping centre
- History
- Levels one and two 20062007
- Level three 20102011
- Replacing Myer and new fresh food market 2012
- Minor improvements 2013
- Transport
- Parking
- Public transport
- References
History
Forest Hill opened as a strip mall shopping centre in June 1964, this included first Safeway store in Australia, before gradually growing during the '70s and '80s with larger stores, a multi-deck car park adjacent to Canterbury Road, the development of a Woolworths supermarket and an enclosed two storey building at the southern end of the site (where Big W, Harris Scarfe and Safeway currently reside).
Forest Hill's conversion from a hybrid (strip mall / indoor) centre to a fully indoor site began in June 1987 with the demolition of the strip mall section, and the construction of a three storey extension to the existing building, which housed major tenants including Coles, Venture, Kmart and Hoyts, and was completed in 1989.
During circa 1997, Harris Scarfe was downsized from its two level form to occupying only level 1, to allow a new Big W store to open in the now vacant space on level 2. An AMF Bowling centre and children's play centre Run Riot was constructed on Level 3 a couple of years later.
In December 2004, Melbourne businessman Maurice Alter sold the Forest Hill Chase shopping centre to listed retail property trust CFS Gandel, managed by Colonial First State Property, for $214.5 million. The sale was close to being the largest national (Australian) retail property deal of the year and which included property management rights and the potential for redevelopment. At the time of purchase, Colonial First State Property fund manager Bevan Towning ruled out any immediate major redevelopment plans, saying the intention was to change the centre's retailing mix by introducing the same national brands it had at its other shopping centres, Chadstone and Northland. They also wanted to revitalize the centre and give it a "New look".
Levels one and two (2006−2007)
In the biggest redevelopment of the centre since 1989, levels one and two of the centre were completely refurbished in 2007. Major milestones of the redevelopment program, which started in December 2006, are as follows:
Level three (2010–2011)
The third level was expanded and refurbished during the second half of 2010, complimenting the earlier refurbishment of the other levels of the centre and introducing a number of new tenants. The redeveloped level officially re-opened on 15 December 2010 with some retailers opening earlier or later in the following months.
Replacing Myer and new fresh food market (2012)
In 2012, Harris Scarfe returned to the centre and spent more than $2 million redeveloping the store in the area previously occupied by Myer.
The centre also expanded its fresh food market on level one, which included a new ALDI supermarket on top of the Canterbury Road multi deck car park, which caused a small increase in undercover parking. A new refurbished bus zone was also built as a result. (A temporary bus zone was constructed adjacent to Kmart Tyre & Auto during construction).
Minor improvements (2013)
The glass lift in the food court that travels from the basement car park through to level 3 was replaced, as the existing lift was too small, causing heavy congestion as it became the only fully accessible way to move between levels 2 and 3 after the level 3 redevelopment. The expanded lift is now operating and carries up to 26 people. New facade and centre entrance treatments were also installed along the Canterbury Road car park frontage and around the Level 2 Big W centre entry.
Transport
Forest Hill Chase provides free, mostly un-timed parking for over 3200 vehicles and is serviced by four bus routes and taxis.
Parking
Adjoining the centre are several multideck carparks, resulting in the majority of parking at the centre being undercover.
Public transport
Forest Hill Chase is directly serviced by SmartBus route 703 services operating on a deviation as well as three regular bus routes (735, 736, 765), with bus stops located underneath the Aldi store in the market area of the centre (via the northern entrance).