$20 million revamp of Gold Coast shopping centre Harbour Town unveiled

PARKING at Harbour Town is about the get much easier with a $20-million redevelopment including more spaces at the outlet shopping centre.

$20m redevelopment for Harbour Town

A $20-MILLION redevelopment of Harbour Town will see an increase in car spaces, helping ease customer frustrations.

Construction began at the Biggera Waters outlet shopping centre earlier this week to create 25 new tenancies as well as the new parking area.

The former Bunnings building to the west of the centre has been demolished to make way for 400 new parking bays.

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However, other parking spots will be lost, with new shops to be built over some, leaving a net gain of about 120 parks.

Harbour Town centre manager Gary Webb said the new car parks would be finished in time for this year’s Christmas trading.

The new-look retail section of Harbour Town is expected to be ready by May next year.

“We’re swapping the existing car parking and where Bunnings used to stand, we’re converting that to a carpark and reallocating space elsewhere,” Mr Webb said.

Harbour Town now.

“The priority is to get the car park finished prior to the peak trading at Christmas.”

New retail tenancies are expected to be built in the old David Jones building within the centre.

The redevelopment was planned after the expiration of David Jones’ lease in June.

This will be the first major redevelopment of the 16-year-old centre, jointly owned by The Lewis Land Group and Lendlease, since 2007.

It comes as Australia Fair undergoes a $15 million redevelopment and Pacific Fair continues to chip away at its $670 million revamp but Mr Webb said the changes were not an effort to compete with other Coast centres.

Part of the current Harbour Town.

Mr Webb said the move to bring new stores to the centre was part of a long-term plan for the business.

“Any shopping centre needs to refresh the tenancy mix to adjust to current trends,” he said.

While the centre manager would not disclose which new tenancies would be coming to the redeveloped shopping centre, he said there had been strong interest from international and national brands.

“It’s a very positive move for the property and it will give locals and tourists an even broader range,” Mr Webb said.

“When we get to announcing it there will be more international brands and mens and women's fashion.”