page_title: Westfield Geelong
section_title: Redevelopment
hierarchical_section_title: Westfield Geelong / History / Redevelopment
caption_attribution_description: Westfield Bay City construction, Geelong
context_page_description: Westfield Geelong is a shopping centre located in the Geelong CBD in Victoria, Australia which was opened in 1988. It was formerly known as Westfield Bay City before the 2008 redevelopment, and as Bay City Plaza before being acquired by the Westfield Group in 2003. The centre is located on the northern side of Malop Street opposite the Market Square shopping complex, and is bounded by Moorabool Street, Yarra Street, Malop Street and Brougham Street. The centre has completed its major redevelopment, including the expansion over Yarra Street via a flyover.
context_section_description: The early 2000s saw proposals floated for the expansion of the shopping centre, utilising a flyover over Yarra Street, but this was met with a negative response from the community. The flyover was criticised for blocking views of Corio Bay from Yarra Street, and that the bridge was not just a walkway but an overhead carpark, shopping strip and roadway on a similar scale to the multi-level retail/pedestrian bridge at Westfield Southland.
  The development was given approval on 21 June 2006 and construction commenced in February 2007 and resulted in major closures to various parts of the centre, with Big W to be the key tenant of the Yarra Street section. A number of smaller shops on both the ground and first floors were temporary closed, along with the Coles supermarket and the eastern pedestrian entry from Yarra Street. Part of the main multi-level carpark has been closed, as well as the Yarra Street access ramp and the Malop Street Carpark. Treacy Place as well as the eastern section of Corio Street have been permanently closed and are now covered by the centre.
  During construction in April 2008 a fire broke inside the complex taking two hours to extinguish, and in May 2008 a tradesman was injured when pinned against a beam while operating a cherry picker.
  Stage 1 including the Coles supermarket and surrounding area opened on 17 April 2008, while the Big W store, another 80 stores, the restaurant precinct, the glass tower on the Malop Street corner and the Yarra Street flyover were opened on 17 July. Before redevelopment the centre had 67 stores and 1121 car parks, today it has 187 stores and 1700 car parks. The total cost of the works was $200 million.
  The works have resulted in an increase in the percentage of lettable area in the complex, with the majority of the main central atrium being filled in. The opening of complex has also led to a decline in strip shopping on Moorabool Street, with many empty shops and few customers. The head of the Central Geelong marketing committee, Mark Davis, expressed concern that despite the expanded shopping centre being a boost for the city, it will make life tougher for smaller traders, who would need to "figure out how their business fitted into the city's new shopping environment".
caption: Construction at Westfield Bay City, looking north-east from Market Square.
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 350D DIGITAL", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2007:06:10 16:12:54", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "196", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "9716", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6775", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/250", "EXIF FNumber": "10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:06:10 16:12:54", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:06:10 16:12:54", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "261023/32768", "EXIF ApertureValue": "108853/16384", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "1", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "18", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1024", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "673", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "9230", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "1728000/437", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "384000/97", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}