Cairns Central Shopping Centre is in Cairns City,

Cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...

, Far North

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is

' biggest

shopping centre A shopping center in American English, shopping centre in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, spelling differences), shopping complex, shopping arcade, ...

. The centre was opened in late 1997 and is the second multi-story shopping centre in northern Queensland. The shopping centre is built over the Cairns railway station, which is incorporated with the centre. Pedestrian access to the station is through the car park on the bottom floor, or a pedestrian walkway on the second floor. Construction of the shopping centre was delayed temporarily due to damage suffered from Tropical Cyclone Justin in early 1997. Cairns Central currently contains 5 anchor stores including: * 1 Floor

Myer Myer (stylised MYER) is an Australian mid-range to upscale department store. It trades in all Australian states and one of Australia's two self-governing territories. Myer retails a broad range of products across women's, men's, and child ...

department Store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...

. * Target discount department store. The store temporarily pulled out of the centre in April 2021 to swap locations with Kmart. The store opened in November 2021. *

Kmart Kmart ( ), formerly legally registered as Kmart Corporation, now operated by Transformco, is a department-store chain and online retailer in the United States and Territories of the United States, its territories. It operates four remaining Kma ...

discount department store. It originally opened in the former Bi-Lo supermarket until it was moved into the former Target space in 2021. * Coles Supermarket. * Woolworths Supermarket. Opened on 15 December 2020 as part of a recent redevelopment and took over the second-floor of Myer. * Event Cinemas Cinema complex. Cairns Central as of June 2008 recorded more than $353 million in sales and has centre visits of 10 million a year.

Awards

The centre has, for the second time running, been named among the state's top shopping centres. Cairns Central on 13 February 2009 was named runner-up in the 2008 Queensland Shopping Centre of the Year Awards in the Super/Major regional centres exceeding .

Ownership court case

In August 2007, it was revealed joint owners Westfield and Australian Prime Property Fund were arguing about Westfield's insistence on managing the centre itself. APPF said it wanted current managers Lend Lease to stay in charge and Westfield took the matter to the New South Wales Supreme Court. A spokesman for APPF confirmed the matter had been referred for mediation, expected to start about 18 February 2008. Westfield bought their 50% share in 2006 from Coles Myer and put itself forward as the centre's manager but this was rejected by Lend Lease. An attempt by Westfield in the New South Wales Supreme Court on Monday 16 June to force a

public auction A government auction or a public auction is an auction held on behalf of a government in which the property to be auctioned is either property owned by the government or property which is sold under the authority of a court of law or a governmen ...

of the shopping centre – valued at $407 million – was rejected as was an alternative bid to appoint receivers to sell the centre. Lend Lease's contract over Cairns Central ran out on 30 June 2008 and was, and still is, uncertain who will manage the centre. As of October 2011, Lendlease purchased Westfield's 50% share in Cairns Central, which leaves Lendlease as the primary owner of the shopping centre via Lendlease's APPF Commercial Investment arm.

Redevelopment project

On 18 July 2019,

Lendlease Lendlease is an Australian multinational construction and real estate company, headquartered in Barangaroo, Sydney, New South Wales. History Founding The company was established as Lendlease by Dick Dusseldorp in 1958 to provide finance fo ...

announced their $60 million redevelopment project for Cairns Central. The project includes a new Woolworths and food market, parking improvements, and other facilities. Construction of this redevelopment went on until its completion on 15 December 2020.

Gallery

Image:Cairns Central Air.jpg, Cairns Central from the air facing south, circa 2006 Image:Station Dusk.JPG, Cairns railway station at dusk Image:North End.JPG, Cairns Central in the evening

References

External links