Westfield Knox breaks new ground with $355m facelift

Listed shopping centre behemoth Scentre is breaking new ground in Melbourne’s east, unveiling plans to add a 25-metre swimming pool to its $355 million revamp of Westfield Knox.

Scentre is rolling out a suite of new community focused uses for the centre, including a 2000 square metre library, in a bid to attract and keep more customers on the floor.

Parts of the new lifestyle-focused centre have been tried in New South Wales, where Westfield Mt Druitt is getting a new $55 million lifestyle precinct, but Scentre is going all in at Knox.

Scentre Group director of development Stewart White said, “It’s a first for us in Victoria, but it’s a groundbreaking development for us, and we’ll be seeing how we can adapt it to other places and markets.”

The recent departure of Myer, which had been the centre’s department store mainstay since it opened in 1977, kicked off a reimagining of what a shopping centre could be.

“We’ve stripped out the old Myer box and repositioned the space for retail and lifestyle,” White said.

“We’re only adding 3000 sq m of space. We are retaining and repurposing the space rather than demolishing and rebuilding,” he said.

Other sustainability measures include rain water harvesting, solar panels, food composting and an onsite glass-crushing system.

Stage one, a new fresh food market on level 1, is due to open by the end of the year. Stage two, rolling out next year, includes the Aquatic Achievers swim school, a new food court, basketball courts and a library.