Revealed: The Westfield malls in talks to build thousands of homes
Australia’s biggest shopping centre owner, Scentre Group, is in advanced talks with the NSW government for rezoning approvals allowing it to build more than 4000 homes across two of its Westfield shopping centres.
Scentre is pushing for changes at its shopping centres as part of a long-term play to capitalise on state governments desperate for developers to supercharge home building at a time when housing construction has plummeted significantly compared to 30 years ago.
The shopping centre owner operates 42 Westfield malls, many of which are retail hubs in some of the country’s most densely populated and fastest-growing neighbourhoods.
“Our Westfield destinations are essential centres of the community. We have the potential to make a significant contribution to housing supply at our locations across Australia and New Zealand,” a Scentre spokeswoman said.
“We are focused on the potential to create substantial long-term growth for the group by adding residential across our portfolio of strategically located destinations.”
Scentre is in advanced talks to get the rezoning green light for thousands of homes at Westfield Warringah Mall in Sydney’s affluent northern beaches and Westfield Tuggerah in NSW’s Central Coast.
NSW Planning Minister Paul Scully has discussed with Scentre an approval for Westfield Warringah Mall that would allow for more than 2000 homes, according to sources with direct knowledge of the discussions who were not permitted to speak publicly.
Further along the rezoning approval process is Scentre-owned land adjacent to Westfield Tuggerah, which has the potential to deliver 2100 homes. The rezoning of the site adjoining Westfield Tuggerah is in the final assessment stage with a decision to made within months.
Scully, the consenting authority for these rezoning changes, declined to comment as he was not allowed to comment on projects that have yet to get the green light.
A planning department spokeswoman said it was willing to work with any landowner to solve the housing crisis.
“Scentre Group is interested in developing additional housing on its land and we will continue to work with them to deliver results,” the spokeswoman said.
Scentre is among a handful of large companies that have directly engaged with the planning department on rezoning changes because it is a so-called planning concierge development partner. The planning concierge, an arm within the NSW planning department, has met with Scentre regularly to provide advice and support on how best to get rezoning approvals.
The shopping centre operator has already secured rezoning approvals at Westfield Hornsby in Sydney’s upper north shore and Belconnen in Canberra as part of state and territory governments’ efforts to fix their housing shortages.
Approval for the two new developments, along with the Westfield Hornsby and Belconnen malls, would give Scentre Group the rezoning required to potentially build more than 8000 homes on sites connected to its shopping centres.
Scentre has also commenced preliminary talks with the NSW government about rezoning at Parramatta, Eastgardens and Kotara centres, sources with direct knowledge of the discussions said.
They said that Scentre was hoping to make inroads across other states and territories on the eastern seaboard, too. It has interest in getting approval for rezoning Westfield Woden in Canberra and Southland in south-east Melbourne’s Cheltenham, near the yet-to-be-completed first stage of the state Labor government’s Suburban Rail Loop.
While Scentre has said it intends to get as many rezoning approvals as possible, it is not clear if it plans to build the projects itself. During an earnings call last month, chief executive Elliot Rusanow said the company had not progressed to the stage of making those decisions and was primarily focused on getting rezoning changes for its assets.
