Robina Town Centre

**Robina Town Centre** is the second largest shopping centre on the Gold Coast, Australia after the recently redeveloped Pacific Fair, covering 34 hectares (84 acres) in the suburb of Robina, with 7 anchor tenants and over 400 retail outlets covering over 130,000 square metres (1,400,000 sq ft).

## Accessible

Similar to a large shopping centre in the ACT, Canberra Centre, Robina Town Centre holds with the most elevators in a single Australian shopping centre, Robina Town Centre had originally 11 lifts, then was before added another three more each in Myer, David Jones and H&M and another few more make it a total of 18 accessible lifts in total, more lifts then any Australian westfields. there is also via access to 27 escalators and access with 8 stairs and 17 accessible toilets.

## History

Construction began on the centre in 1994 and it was at the time the largest mall in Australia to be built in a single development period. Stage One of the development opened in late April 1996 and Stage Two, two extra levels of shopping, in late August 1996. The centre has since been taken over by the Queensland Investment Corporation from the original developers Robina Land Corporation and development and refurbishment has occurred in 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007–09, 2010 and 2014/15. This development has cost $40 million and further development is planned.[*citation needed*] As well as development in 2006 there were a number of events to celebrate the 10th birthday of the centre. These included celebrity visits and children's events.

In 1998, the centre received a Commendation from the Royal Australian Institute of Architects.

In 2007, the Robina Town Centre commenced on a $300 million extension, which opened in April 2009.[*citation needed*] These works added a 2nd Woolworths supermarket, a large scale 10,000 m² Big W (which opened as the largest Big W store in Australia), a two-storey Borders Book Store, a new entertainment and leisure precinct surrounding the lake including new cinemas and restaurants, a new state of the art 900-seat Food Atrium, plus over 100 new stores and an additional 1,100 parking spaces.

In 2010, Robina Town Centre completed a $90 million expansion with the addition of a Myer store (in the location of the previous Event Cinemas) plus 12 new fashion stores in a new mall linking Arbour Lane to the food markets.

In May 2015, a new mall opened adjacent to Market Hall with a 4,200 square metre Super Coles Store and an additional 1,500 square metres of retail space. Stage 2B of Market Hall (The Kitchens) opened in late 2016 with 55 new retailers. Also scheduled for a revamp is the food atrium which is set to be completed in September 2016. Further development commenced in May 2016 with The Central Malls Project starting which will link the existing West and East fashion malls, the new mall is set to become the bustling heart of Robina Town Centre offering completely new flagship brands and outlets as well as approximately 45 new specialty stores. The Central Malls Project has opened in 2018. It included a two-level H&M.

## Shopping and surroundings

The shopping centre has themed malls – Arbour Lane, Bazaar Street, Food Markets, Fashion Mall (Crescent West) and the North Mall – give this shopping centre a unique feel. The Robina station and Robina Stadium are also nearby.

## Parking and Transportation

Robina Town Centre has an intelligent parking system, with parking assist bays and empty parking indicators to assist in finding a park. With approximately 6,000 car parks available mostly undercover, the parking assist works using sensors above parks with LED indicators if a park is empty (green) or taken (red). These sensors communicate with the directional flow indicators on the main thoroughfare that blink in the direction of an empty parking bay. There are 85 disabled parking bays that are undercover and an additional 12 open aired parking bays located at the Food markets car park. There are 50 parents with Pram parking bays with extra wide bays located in various sections of each car park area.

Robina Town Centre is within walking distance of Robina station and Robina Stadium and is serviced by multiple Surfside Buslines routes and trains from Brisbane to Varsity Lakes that operate in the area. The bus stop is not well-signed within the centre but can be located near Target, which is signed.