Scentre Group Limited is a shopping centre company with retail destinations operating under the Westfield brand in Australia and New Zealand. The corporation undertakes ownership, development, design, construction, funds/asset management,

property management Property management is the operation, control, maintenance, and oversight of real estate and physical property. This can include residential, commercial, and land real estate. Management indicates the need for real estate to be cared for and monit ...

, leasing, and marketing activities for its centres. The group was created in June 2014 when the

Westfield Group Westfield Group was an Australian shopping centre company that existed from 1960 to 2014, when it split into two independent companies: Scentre Group, which owns and operates the Australian and New Zealand Westfield shopping centre portfolio; ...

separated its American and European businesses from its operations in Australia and New Zealand. The company is

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

on the

Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as ...

and had a shopping centre portfolio that includes investment interests in 42 shopping centres across Australia and New Zealand in 2019, encompassing around 12,544 retail outlets and total assets under management in excess of A$39.4 billion in 2015.

History

Scentre Group has origins in the western suburbs of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. The first development was named "Westfield Place", and opened in July 1959 in

Blacktown Blacktown is a suburb in the City of Blacktown, in Greater Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Blacktown is located west of the Sydney central business district. It is one of the most multicultural places within Grea ...

. The name Westfield is derived from "west" related to the West-Sydney location, and "field" due to having located on subdivided farmland. John Saunders and

Frank Lowy Sir Frank P. Lowy ( ; born 22 October 1930) is an Australian people, Australian-Israeli people, Israeli businessman of Jewish Slovakian-Hungarian origins and the former long-time Chairman of Westfield Corporation, a global shopping centre comp ...

opened the centre. The company was floated on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1960 and built another five centres in New South Wales before expanding into Victoria and Queensland in 1966–67. The expansion into the United States began with the purchase of Trumbull Shopping Park in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

in 1977, and was followed by three centres in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, and Connecticut in 1980 and three centres in California,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

and

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in 1986. In 1994, Westfield joined together with General Growth and Whitehall Real Estate to purchase 19 centres for US$1 billion. The company built considerable holdings on the east coast and in California before expanding in the Mid-West. By 2005, the company owned centres in 15 US states. In the 1990s, Westfield began a major expansion to New Zealand, where it mostly bought existing shopping centres of the Fletchers Company, and progressively rebranded them. Only in 2007, with

Westfield Albany Westfield Albany is a shopping centre in the Auckland suburb of 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. Until 2014 it w ...

, did the company open a fully new centre in the country. On 9 May 2006, Westfield announced the sale of eight United States shopping centres which it deemed to fit outside its strategic plan, to Centro Properties Group. In April 2012, it was announced that Westfield Group would sell seven 'non-core' property assets to

Starwood Capital Group Starwood Capital Group is an investment firm headquartered in Miami Beach, Florida. It is managed by Barry Sternlicht. It was co-founded by Sternlicht and Robert Faith in 1991. In 1993, Faith left Starwood to found Greystar Real Estate Partners ...

for A$1 billion and one other property to an undisclosed buyer for A$147 million. The funds would be used to repay debt and invest in businesses offering higher return. The sales were expected completed by November 2013. In June 2014, Westfield Group, one of the world's largest shopping centre companies, restructured to create two, new independent companies: Scentre Group and

Westfield Corporation Westfield Corporation was an Australian commercial real estate company and operator of shopping centres. It was founded with the spin-off of the Westfield Group in 2014, where assets in Australia and New Zealand formed the Scentre Group and ...

. Scentre Group was created to own and manage the company's interests in Australia and New Zealand. Westfield Corporation owns and manages Westfield shopping centres in the United States and the United Kingdom. Although Westfield Group has evolved into two separate companies, the consumer branding will remain the same for Scentre Group's shopping centre portfolio. In October 2015,

stepped down as the chairman of Scentre Group following 55 years in charge.

Current operations

Scentre Group currently has interests in total assets worth A$38.6 billion, owning 42

shopping malls A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...

in Australia and New Zealand − with over 3.8 million square meters of retail space.

Australia

Having been established in Australia, with its original premises being at Blacktown, the Scentre Group continues to operate a large number of shopping centres in Australia under the Westfield brand.

New Zealand

Westfield entered the New Zealand market in 1997 and acquired an interest in the St. Lukes Group portfolio in 1998. Westfield malls are by far the most numerous chain in New Zealand, with most of its centres located in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, including their largest development located in Albany. As of February 2017, Westfield had NZ$2.5 billion in assets under management in New Zealand. In mid-2012 Westfield sold its 50% share of Westfield Shore City in

Takapuna Takapuna is a suburb located on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. The suburb is situated at the beginning of a south-east-facing peninsula forming the northern side of the Waitematā Harbour. While very small in terms of population, it ...

on Auckland's North Shore, now known as Shore City Shopping Centre. Later that same year the company sold Westfield Downtown and Westfield Pakuranga, now known as Pakuranga Plaza. In 2014 Scentre sold 49% of five malls to the Singapore Government's

GIC Private Limited GIC Private Limited is a sovereign wealth fund in Singapore that manages its foreign reserves. Established by the Government of Singapore in 1981 as the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, its mission is to preserve and enhance the ...

. The malls are Albany, Manukau, Newmarket and St Lukes in Auckland, and Riccarton in Christchurch. In 2015 two more Westfield malls sold by Scentre Group were

Chartwell Shopping Centre Chartwell Shopping Centre is a shopping centre, owned by Stride Property, and is located on a site in the suburb of Chartwell, north of Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional gi ...

(formerly Westfield Chartwell) and Queensgate Shopping Centre (formerly Westfield Queensgate). In February 2017, it was announced that Scentre Group had sold the

Westfield WestCity WestCity Waitakere is a major regional shopping centre located in Henderson, a suburb in Auckland, New Zealand. It is west of the Auckland CBD, and is immediately adjacent to The Boundary. The centre has a current catchment area of 174,340 pers ...

mall in

Henderson Henderson may refer to: People *Henderson (surname), description of the surname, and a list of people with the surname *Clan Henderson, a Scottish clan Places Argentina *Henderson, Buenos Aires Australia *Henderson, Western Australia Canada * H ...

, Auckland, to the family-owned Australian business Angaet Group for A$147 million.

Gallery

File:Westfield Belconnen.jpg,

Westfield Belconnen Westfield Belconnen, also known colloquially as Belconnen Mall, is managed by Scentre Group and located in the Canberra suburb of Belconnen, Australian Capital Territory, Belconnen, Australia. The shopping centre is the largest in Canberra, fe ...

, Canberra File:Footbridge over Neptune Street January 2014.jpg,

Westfield Woden Westfield Woden Plaza (also known as Westfield Woden) is a large shopping centre located in the Woden Town Centre of Phillip of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The centre comprises four anchor tenants - David Jones, Big W, Coles and ...

, Canberra File:Bondi Junction 4.JPG, Westfield Bondi Junction, Sydney File:Burwood Westfield.JPG,

Westfield Burwood Westfield Burwood is a large shopping centre in the suburb of Burwood in the Inner West of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Transport The Northern and Inner West & Leppington Line offer frequent train services to Burwood station which ...

, Sydney File:Chatswood, New South Wales-Shops.jpg, Westfield Chatswood, Sydney File:Westfield Eastgardens 1.JPG,

Westfield Eastgardens Westfield Eastgardens is a large shopping centre in the suburb of Eastgardens in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. Transport Westfield Eastgardens has bus connections to the Sydney CBD, Eastern Suburbs, Inner City and Inner West, as well ...

, Sydney File:Hurst5.JPG, Westfield Hurstville, Sydney File:Mirandawestfield.JPG,

Westfield Miranda Westfield Miranda (previously known as Miranda Fair) is a large shopping centre in the suburb of Miranda in Sutherland Shire of Sydney. Transport The Cronulla line offers frequent services to Miranda Station located outside the centre. We ...

, Sydney File:Westfield Parramatta.JPG,

Westfield Parramatta Westfield Parramatta is a large shopping centre in the suburb of Parramatta in Greater Western Sydney. Transport The North Shore & Western, Inner West & Leppington and Cumberland Line offer frequent services to Westfield Parramatta. Westfi ...

, Sydney File:(1)Westfield Penrith-2.jpg, Westfield Penrith, Sydney File:New Westfield shopping centre, Sydney CBD.jpg,

Westfield Sydney Westfield Sydney is a large, upmarket shopping centre in the Sydney central business district. It is located underneath the Sydney Tower and is located on Pitt Street Mall, adjacent to the MidCity, Glasshouse and near The Strand Arcade. Histo ...

File:Westfield Warringah Mall Dolphin Fountain.jpg,

Westfield Warringah Mall Westfield Warringah Mall (previously known as Warringah Mall or colloquially as The Mall) is a large indoor/outdoor shopping centre in the suburb of Brookvale in the Northern Beaches region of Sydney. Transport Westfield Warringah Mall h ...

, Sydney File:Westfield Kotara 001.jpg,

Westfield Kotara Westfield Kotara (previously known as Kotara Fair and Garden City) is a large shopping centre in the suburb of Kotara in Newcastle. Transport Kotara station is 800 metres away from Westfield Kotara and is on the Main Northern railway line. T ...

, Newcastle File:Westfield Carindale.JPG,

Westfield Carindale Westfield Carindale is a large shopping centre in Queensland located in the suburb of Carindale, east of Brisbane. The centre is one of the largest shopping centres in Australia. The centre contains over 450 specialty stores and almost 6,000 c ...

, Brisbane File:Chermside Shopping Centre.jpg,

Westfield Chermside Westfield Chermside, colloquially known as 'Chermside or Chermy', is a regional shopping centre located in the Brisbane northern suburb of Chermside. It is the second largest regional shopping centre in Australia by number of stores, behind Chad ...

, Brisbane File:Doncaster-front.jpg,

Westfield Doncaster Westfield Doncaster (formerly Doncaster Shoppingtown) is a shopping centre 50% owned by Scentre Group and 25% owned by ISPT and 25% owned by Asia Property Fund (as of May 2015) located in Doncaster, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. ...

, Melbourne File:Westfield Southland shopping arcade over the Nepean Highway.jpg,

Westfield Southland Westfield Southland (previously known as Southland Centre) is a shopping centre in the suburb of Cheltenham in Melbourne. Southland has a floor area of 129,180m², making it one of the biggest shopping centres in Australia by size. There are ap ...

, Melbourne File:Westfield TwoDoubleSeven.jpg,

Westfield Newmarket Westfield Newmarket is a shopping centre in Newmarket, a central suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. The centre initially opened in the 1980s; in early 2018, the centre closed for a major re-build and expansion; it re-opened in August 2019 after a ...

, Auckland File:Westfield Belconnen viewed from Lathlain Street.jpg,

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

. Viewed from Lathlain Street. File:Hornsby mall with fountain.jpg, Westfield Hornsby, Sydney

References

External links

*
Westfield eCommerce platform developer site
{{WestfieldNewZealand Companies based in Sydney Companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange Real estate companies of Australia Shopping center management firms Corporate spin-offs Australian companies established in 2014 Real estate companies established in 2014