[COM] Armada Arndale (Redevelopment) | $200m

[Centro Arndale]

just wondering what's the empty land at the new park (Big W side)??? any new things coming on there??

The space does not form part of the scope for the current redevelopment project and will remain vacant for now.

[pushbutton]

About half of the Woolworths extension is finally open. Unfortunately they seem to be going for a no-ceiling look, but in my honest opinion it looks really bad. I think they're trying to copy UK and USA supermarkets which generally have no ceilings, but they're in brand new purpose built buildings where no ceiling looks good because it's designed from the ground up to look good. In an old centre like Arndale, and even in the new extension part of Woolworths, it looks awful because the roof is nowhere near high enough, nor is it made of the right type of material to look good without a ceiling.

To get a rough idea what the overseas supermarkets look like, take a look at the roof of the food court at Westfield West Lakes. No ceiling, but looks good. Woolworths Arndale on the other hand is a very different story I'm afraid.

I just hope I'm wrong, and they will actually install a ceiling, but given that there's no sign of it even in the new extension as yet, and they seem to have (very poorly) painted most things white including the sprinkler pipes, I doubt it.

The ceiling in the mall is generally looking quite good now, though some parts still have temporary lighting for some reason.

The floor near Big W is still not finished, and has signs up saying tile remediation underway. Why would it need remediation when it's only just been installed?

The entrance near Woolworths is finally starting to be built, and a sign near it says it will be complete by June (6 months after the whole project was supposed to be complete).

Still no floor in the new mall area near Gloria Jeans.

Oh and Big W entrance doors still not being fully opened. Not sure why.

I'd really like to see Arndale look good, but it still seems a fair way off and I don't understand why there's such delays.

[Centro Arndale]

About half of the Woolworths extension is finally open. Unfortunately they seem to be going for a no-ceiling look, but in my honest opinion it looks really bad. I think they're trying to copy UK and USA supermarkets which generally have no ceilings, but they're in brand new purpose built buildings where no ceiling looks good because it's designed from the ground up to look good. In an old centre like Arndale, and even in the new extension part of Woolworths, it looks awful because the roof is nowhere near high enough, nor is it made of the right type of material to look good without a ceiling.

To get a rough idea what the overseas supermarkets look like, take a look at the roof of the food court at Westfield West Lakes. No ceiling, but looks good. Woolworths Arndale on the other hand is a very different story I'm afraid.

I just hope I'm wrong, and they will actually install a ceiling, but given that there's no sign of it even in the new extension as yet, and they seem to have (very poorly) painted most things white including the sprinkler pipes, I doubt it.

The ceiling in the mall is generally looking quite good now, though some parts still have temporary lighting for some reason.

The floor near Big W is still not finished, and has signs up saying tile remediation underway. Why would it need remediation when it's only just been installed?

The entrance near Woolworths is finally starting to be built, and a sign near it says it will be complete by June (6 months after the whole project was supposed to be complete).

Still no floor in the new mall area near Gloria Jeans.

Oh and Big W entrance doors still not being fully opened. Not sure why.

I'd really like to see Arndale look good, but it still seems a fair way off and I don't understand why there's such delays.

The scope of work to be undertaken within Woolworths is significant, with a complete reconfiguration of the layout plus an extra 1,000sqm built on the store’s existing foot print; this has been further complicated by the supermarket trading through the refurbishment. We look forward to seeing the store complete mid-year, along with the rest of the centre redevelopment.

As mentioned previously there are several areas of tiling that unfortunately have had to be re-worked following the initial installation. The builders are working to fix these areas and flooring is expected to be finished by the end of May.

Once again we would like to thank everyone for their patience during the redevelopment of the Arndale Shopping Centre.

[The Scooter Guy]

About half of the Woolworths extension is finally open. Unfortunately they seem to be going for a no-ceiling look, but in my honest opinion it looks really bad. I think they're trying to copy UK and USA supermarkets which generally have no ceilings, but they're in brand new purpose built buildings where no ceiling looks good because it's designed from the ground up to look good. In an old centre like Arndale, and even in the new extension part of Woolworths, it looks awful because the roof is nowhere near high enough, nor is it made of the right type of material to look good without a ceiling.

To get a rough idea what the overseas supermarkets look like, take a look at the roof of the food court at Westfield West Lakes. No ceiling, but looks good. Woolworths Arndale on the other hand is a very different story I'm afraid.

I just hope I'm wrong, and they will actually install a ceiling, but given that there's no sign of it even in the new extension as yet, and they seem to have (very poorly) painted most things white including the sprinkler pipes, I doubt it.

The ceiling in the mall is generally looking quite good now, though some parts still have temporary lighting for some reason.

The floor near Big W is still not finished, and has signs up saying tile remediation underway. Why would it need remediation when it's only just been installed?

The entrance near Woolworths is finally starting to be built, and a sign near it says it will be complete by June (6 months after the whole project was supposed to be complete).

Still no floor in the new mall area near Gloria Jeans.

Oh and Big W entrance doors still not being fully opened. Not sure why.

I'd really like to see Arndale look good, but it still seems a fair way off and I don't understand why there's such delays.

The scope of work to be undertaken within Woolworths is significant, with a complete reconfiguration of the layout plus an extra 1,000sqm built on the store’s existing foot print; this has been further complicated by the supermarket trading through the refurbishment. We look forward to seeing the store complete mid-year, along with the rest of the centre redevelopment.

As mentioned previously there are several areas of tiling that unfortunately have had to be re-worked following the initial installation. The builders are working to fix these areas and flooring is expected to be finished by the end of May.

Once again we would like to thank everyone for their patience during the redevelopment of the Arndale Shopping Centre.

Hmm... A Woolworths without a ceiling & exposed air-con ducts like no others?

[pushbutton]

Yes. It's funny that Woolworths would choose to go down that path considering that Big W has only just completed a refurbishment of their Arndale store, in which they replaced the existing ceiling in order to hide the air-con ducts (which were previously exposed) and to install better looking lighting.

[crawf]

I went to Arndale yesterday to grab a few things and to see how things are progressing. Pushbutton, you can easily see the ceiling in Woolworths is far from being complete. Still lots of renovating to do, but it's starting to look a like a 21st century supermarket.

The rest of the complex is also starting to look much better with the new lighting and flooring. However the one thing that irks me about Arndale is the clutter, it's annoying to navigate with huge racks of clothing or badly placed furniture. Plus, I sometimes find it impossible to find a table and chairs to eat food.

Also that centre attracts some interesting individuals, makes Elizabeth look like Burnside some days.

[pushbutton]

I realised there was still a lot of work to do at Woolworths, but I think if they were going to put a ceiling in there would be some sign of it by now especially in the new part.

I think the clientele is mainly the result of where it is located, but maybe the improvements to the centre and to the nearby developments will help.

[pushbutton]

Woolworths beginning to look a little bit better now, although I still can't see it looking great with that low roof and no ceiling.

Big W doors still not fully opened.

Floor throughout most of mall S L O W L Y beginning to finally look like it's nearly finished at last!

[rev]

I realised there was still a lot of work to do at Woolworths, but I think if they were going to put a ceiling in there would be some sign of it by now especially in the new part.

I think the clientele is mainly the result of where it is located, but maybe the improvements to the centre and to the nearby developments will help.

What's wrong with the clientele?
There's just as many drop kicks and deadbeats at other major suburban centers. It's not exclusive to Arndale.
Interestingly though, I've come across two drug raids by the police in the last few weeks in the area.

[pushbutton]

Well it's obviously not everyone who shops there, but you only have to spend a few minutes in the centre to see what the clientele is like!

[pushbutton]

I had another look today and at long last it's looking like they've nearly finished!

Woolworths is still only about half done, and the roof looks even worse than I thought it would. They've installed new air-conditioning ducts which are rectangular and silver! What were they thinking?

Apart from that I'm sure it will look ok.

Big W doors still not fully open.

Otherwise, the floor in the mall is finished, the ceilings in the mall are finished (complete with lighting!) and I'd say the work's just about done.

Standing near Woolworths and looking towards Coles, is like looking back 30 odd years, because unfortunately the Coles section of mall has been left as it was, and the difference between that and the rest of the building is very obvious.

It's also a shame they have left some of the old entry doors as they were, because again when viewed alongside the new entrances they look extremely outdated. For the cost of a few new doors I think this one would be very inexpensive to fix, and worthwhile.

The area outside where the old entrance nearest centre stage used to be is a bit odd-looking. Basically it's still very obvious that it was an entrance that's just been closed off.

As I've said all along, the centre's probably never going to be anything special, but on the whole (aside from the issues above) it does certainly look a lot more pleasant than it did.

[pushbutton]

Centro Arndale is now Arndale Central!
http://www.centroarndale.com.au


New signs have gone up at the 3 new entrances, and work is continuing to remove the remaining Centro branding.

[Howie]

Interesting, i hadn't heard they were rebranding. What's the reason for the change?

[pushbutton]

Interesting, i hadn't heard they were rebranding. What's the reason for the change?

No such company as Centro anymore!
It's now Federation Centres.

Each centre will have it's own individual name with the Federation Centres logo (although unlike Centro the actual words "Federation Centres" don't appear, just the icon). In this case, with a name like "Arndale Central", I can only assume they didn't want to move too far from the current name the locals know it by!

I've got to say, whilst I still think a common name such as Westfield or Centro tends to give centres a stronger brand recognition, Arndale Central seems like a very cool and well thought through name for this centre and they shouldn't have too much trouble getting people to know and use the new name.

[neoballmon]

I've never heard anyone (except officials) refer to Colonnades as Centro Colonnades, or Marion as Westfield Marion. Or any other Centre for that matter. So I don't see the removal of 'Centro' as that much of a loss.