Significant Investment for Hutt City

Tuesday 3 August 2004

Significant Investment for Hutt City

Today, Tuesday 3 August 2004 marks the official commencement of the construction of the Westfield $140 million redevelopment of Westfield Queensgate.

John Widdup, Director, Westfield New Zealand said, “Westfield Queensgate will be a unique opportunity for retailers and shoppers. With the support of the Hutt City Council, we have been able to respond to the growing retail demand in the Wellington region in the heart of Hutt City.

Westfield Queensgate will include a new and expanded Farmers department store, The Warehouse department store and Foodtown Supermarket. When combined with 140 specialty stores and the latest Village SKYCITY Cinema complex, it will be a very powerful offer to customers in the Wellington region”, said Mr Widdup.

Mr Joe Moodabe, Chief Executive Officer, Village SKYCITY Cinemas said, “As New Zealand’s No 1 cinema exhibition company, we’ve been seeking for some time an appropriate site to expand into the Wellington area. We are aware that many Hutt Valley residents travel to Wellington central city for their cinema going. Our new complex, which will include stadium seating throughout, a Mega Screen and Two Gold Class auditoriums will enable local residents to experience the ultimate in cinema-going without undertaking a trek to the city.

We believe that a strong demand exists locally for such a development and Westfield’s dedication to the development of their shopping centres into integrated retail, entertainment and leisure precincts matched our strategy for Wellington and the Hutt in particular. We expect the cinemas to be operational towards the end of 2005,” said Mr Moodabe.

“The shopping centre development is one of the largest single investments in the Hutt area for many years, and will cement the future of our CBD area as a significant regional shopping destination. This investment by Westfield and Village SKYCITY Cinemas creates a significant number of employment opportunities. To ensure local jobs are created, Weltec and Work & Income have been in discussion with Westfield to develop training opportunities for potential construction and retail jobs”, said Mr Rik Hart, CEO of Hutt City.

Westfield Queensgate, upon completion, will feature:

Up to 140 specialty stores Approx 1800 car parks A new format Farmers department store A new The Warehouse Discount Department store A new Foodtown Supermarket Wellington’s flagship Village SKYCITY Cinemas 9 screen multiplex with approximately 1700 seats which will include a mega screen and two Gold Class cinemas.

The development of Westfield Queensgate will create up to 1000 construction jobs and up to 700 retail positions.

The Westfield Queensgate redevelopment has a construction programme of 18 months.

ENDS

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