The story
Scentre Group has origins in the western suburbs of Sydney. The first development was named "Westfield Place", and opened in July 1959 in Blacktown. The name Westfield is derived from "west" related to the West-Sydney location, and "field" due to having located on subdivided farmland. John Saunders and Frank Lowy opened the centre.
The company was floated on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1960 and built another five centres in New South Wales before expanding into Victoria and Queensland in 1966–67.
The expansion into the United States began with the purchase of Trumbull Shopping Park in Connecticut in 1977, and was followed by three centres in California, Michigan, and Connecticut in 1980 and three centres in California, New Jersey and Long Island, New York in 1986. In 1994, Westfield joined together with General Growth and Whitehall Real Estate to purchase 19 centres for US$1 billion. The company built considerable holdings on the east coast and in California before expanding in the Mid-West. By 2005, the company owned centres in 15 US states.
In the 1990s, Westfield began a major expansion to New Zealand, where it mostly bought existing shopping centres of the Fletchers Company, and progressively rebranded them. Only in 2007, with Westfield Albany, did the company open a fully new centre in the country.
On 9 May 2006, Westfield announced the sale of eight United States shopping centres which it deemed to fit outside its strategic plan, to Centro Properties Group.
In April 2012, it was announced that Westfield Group would sell seven 'non-core' property assets to Starwood Capital Group for A$1 billion and one other property to an undisclosed buyer for A$147 million. The funds would be used to repay debt and invest in businesses offering higher return. The sales were expected completed by November 2013.
In June 2014, Westfield Group, one of the world's largest shopping centre companies, restructured to create two, new independent companies: Scentre Group and Westfield Corporation. Scentre Group was created to own and manage the company's interests in Australia and New Zealand. Westfield Corporation owns and manages Westfield shopping centres in the United States, United Kingdom, and Europe. Although Westfield Group has evolved into two separate companies, the consumer branding remained the same for Scentre Group's shopping centre portfolio.
In October 2015, Frank Lowy stepped down as the chairman of Scentre Group following 55 years in charge.
Read the full text
Footfall at the group's shopping centres rose 9.8% to 314 million in 2023 in the first half of the year after adding new entertainment in collaboration with Disney and Netball Australia. Centres are 99% occupied, with 1,576 new leases signed in the half year.
On the afternoon of 13 April 2024, a man entered Westfield Bondi Junction in Sydney and stabbed at least 18 people, killing 5 female patrons and a male centre security guard. The incident sent the centre into lockdown and shoppers to take cover in stores. A lone police officer arrived and fatally shot the perpetrator.
The company's figures for 2023: operating funds (FFO) of $1,094.2 million and profit of $174.9 million. The group's portfolio is valued at $34.3bn and partner sales totalled a record $28.4bn (up 6.4% on 2022).
From Wikipedia’s article on Scentre Group, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4