Vicinity’s Plans for 18 Towers in Bankstown

Shopping centre owner Vicinity Centres has unveiled plans worth $1.3 billion to redevelop Bankstown Central shopping centre in Sydney’s south west.

Vicinity’s 30-year “vision” is to transform its 11.4ha in Bankstown to include 900 apartments, a 700-guest room hotel and 300,000sq m of mixed-use space across 18 towers.

The precinct will also include a mix of retail venues, wellness and co-working spaces, food and beverage venues, and public open and landscaped green spaces.

Stage one plans are the construction of the first three office towers above a shared retail podium as well as a large public plaza and a “refreshed” car park with 320 spaces, 240 ground floor bicycle racks and end-of-trip facilities.

Two eight-level mixed-use commercial office buildings will be built along Jacobs Street and Rickard Road, with a five-storey mixed-use commercial office building, also planned for Jacobs Street, to feature ground level retail, food and beverage tenancies, and a private rooftop terrace.

Vicinity Centres chief development office Carolyn Viney said the project’s first stage would revitalise the Bankstown CBD and provide the foundations for the creation of a new health and education innovation precinct.

“Bankstown Central’s location and strong public transport links, including the new Metro station, to be delivered in 2024, represent the perfect platform to support a future health and education innovation precinct,” Viney said.

“Our plans integrate office and retail space, providing a place where residents of Sydney’s south-west can live, work and play close to home, while providing the opportunity to transform the area into a true city of the future.”

In Box Hill, Melbourne, Vicinity similarly has completed a master plan to reconfigure two existing retail sites on the existing 5.5ha footprint.

The redevelopment could potentially deliver 350,000sq m across seven new towers, creating close to $2 billion in developed real estate.

Last month, Vicinity reported a decrease in valuations across its $13.5 billion retail portfolio, down 1.2 per cent fall—equivalent to $164 million, across its 60 directly owned malls.

Its portfolio, heavily weighted towards Melbourne—which has been stricken by a number of lockdowns, includes a stake in the country’s largest mall, Chadstone.

Despite its larger malls experienced devaluations, Vicinity’s portfolio of discount DFO malls picked up a 27.4 per cent lift in values while Vicinity’s neighbourhood centres, which focus on non-discretionary shopping, also proved resilient with a 4.4 per cent gain.