Friday 14 August 2015 « the western weekender
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HISTORY
Turning back Time
Do you remember the Plaza like this? Nathan Taylor reflects on the Penrith Plaza that so many local residents knew and loved – from the old food court to the fountain, classic retailers and more...
Penrith Plaza used to have a very different look. Photo: Penrith City Library
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osting a whopping $400 million, Penrith Plaza was billed as an exciting new world of shopping, food and entertainment. With the ‘old’ Penrith Plaza well and truly outdated, the redevelopment for the ‘new’ Penrith Plaza commenced in 1990. The original Plaza, which had been a fixture of Penrith since the early 1970s, was progressively removed and rebuilt into a “marble palace of food and fashion delights”. This modern multi-storey shopping complex, completed in August 1993, increased in size from 24,000 to 63,000 square metres and included a multi-level car park. A 350 metre glass covered mall, natural light, native plants and plenty of walking and sitting space created a comfortable environment for shoppers. “When designing the Plaza we took into account the needs of the community and how the Plaza would satisfy those requirements,” Lend Lease principal architect, Ross Bonthorne said at the time.
“The result was the creation of a streetscape shopping centre linking the CBD to the civic centre.” Every feature in the Plaza, from the colour of the terrazzo to the benches in the food hall, reflected the local Penrith and Blue Mountains environment. The streetscape design was broken up into three areas: the food hall, the fashion area and lifestyle area. The Plaza’s fresh food hall, known as The Market, was represented by a large fruit bowl. The fashion area, named Fashion Court, was represented by a magnificent water fountain positioned in centre court. The financial and banking district was represented by a beautiful timepiece while the food court was symbolised by a huge wrought-iron globe. Along with major retailers like Brashs and Best & Less, plus department stores like Grace Bros, Big W and Target, there was also over 180 speciality stores including General Pants, Cavalier, Game Keeper, Mostly Movies and Vivien’s Jewellers. One of the most popular areas of the new Penrith Plaza was the amazing food court, known simply as The Globe.
Featuring an incredible 25 international eateries, The Globe was the mecca of Penrith Plaza and unlike anything seen in Australian shopping centres before. The 1000 seat food court had five different precincts: The Playground, The Piazza, Outback, Little Asia and The Games Precinct. The theming was designed to give the Plaza a point of difference and also cater for the leisure market. Each separate precinct had been designed with its own theme and seating areas. ‘The Playground’, unsurprisingly, appealed to kids. All retailers in the precinct had lower shop front counters, designed to suit the needs of children. Food outlets included Donut King, Copenhagen Ice Cream and Streets of Sweets. ‘The Piazza’ was a European style precinct with shop fronts designed to look just like a European street scene. It featured water fountains and a tempting array of places to eat. ‘The Outback’ precinct looked exactly like an outback Australian town and featured a larger than life woodchopper,
wooden floorboards, tin walls, windmills and water towers to add atmosphere. ‘Little Asia’ was themed to resemble a mini Chinatown and included a large full service Chinese restaurant as well as a number of Asian style eateries. Finally, ‘The Games Precinct’ contained the very popular Granny Mays store as well as gaming arcade Playtime and other ‘fun’ orientated retailers. The Globe food court closed in the mid 2000s and the space is now occupied by popular sporting retailer Rebel Sport. In 2004, Penrith Plaza would undergo its biggest transformation since the early 90s when Lend Lease submitted a DA to Penrith Council for a further retail development of the land bounded by Jane, Riley, Henry and Station Streets. The $138 million extensions were opened at the end of 2005 and featured a brand new food court, an outdoor dining precinct as well as 100 new retailers including JB Hi-Fi and Harris Farm Markets. Ownership of the Plaza had also changed with Westfield taking over; however the name change to Westfield Penrith still hasn’t quite grabbed the community.
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