Centro Roselands

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Centro Roselands (previously called Roselands Shopping Centre) is a medium-sized shopping centre in Roselands, a suburb south west of Sydney. Opened in 1965, Roselands was Australia's second shopping centre, and remained the largest shopping centre in the Southern hemisphere for years, even though it is quite small by today's standards.

1 History
2 Roselands today
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

Planes displayed on the roof of Roselands in the 1970s

Construction of Roselands Shopping Centre began on 9 June 1964, on the site of the former Roselands Golf Course (which gave its name to the new centre, and later the surrounding suburb). Cost of construction at the time was AUD $15 million.^[1]

Roselands was officially opened on 12 October 1965, and at the time it was the largest shopping centre in the southern hemisphere.^[2] The centrepiece of the new centre was a large Grace Bros. department store. It also contained Australia's first "food court", a rain-themed water feature and a cinema.

At 4.30pm on 13 June 1969, a large fire broke out in the Grace Bros. store which caused thousands of dollars worth of damage before it was extinguished.

In 1977, Roselands made an application for re-zoning and expansion. There was considerable objection to the plans, although they were eventually approved in December 1978, and the extension was completed in 1981. Further major developments took place in 1991 and 1992.^[1]

[edit] Roselands today

Roselands is currently owned by Centro Properties Group, and the nearest competing shopping centre is the Centro-owned Centro Bankstown. The centre features a three-floor Myer department store, Target, Lincraft, Best and Less, a Coles supermarket, a Food 4 Less supermarket and around 170 speciality stores. Expansions are due to start soon at the centre, as negotiations are still underway with Canterbury Council. It is expected that the development will be complete by mid-2008, provided it starts by next April. It will feature cinemas, a bowling alley and around thirty new stores, many of them leisure, lifestyle and restaurants.