Karingal Hub Shopping Centre (colloquially known as "Karingal Hub," or "The Hub,")[1] as well as it's "Town Square" is the second largest shopping complex located at 330 Cranbourne Rd, Frankston, Victoria, Australia, approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) south of Melbourne CBD. The complex has a combined gross leasable area of 53,000 m2 (570,000 sq ft), 2,750 parking spaces and 200+ stores.[2] It was acquired by ISPT, or the Industry Superannuation Property Trust in July, 2013 and has been owned by other corporations in the past such as Vicinity Centres, which owns it's competitor Bayside.[3] It has the only Big W in and around the peninsula and has a multitude of popular shops, and includes a renovated and tall playground within its Town Square as well as an additional smaller playground in the south of the building, close to the retailer Big W.
Town Square
The Town Square is a regional town square for the locality of Karingal in Frankston, Victoria, located in and managed by Karingal Hub. It was renovated in 2022 and was changed from its former name of Star Zone Karingal.[4] It features a multitude of shops and experiences such as the 12 screen Village Cinemas multiplex with 3 Gold Class facilities and 1 Vmax auditorium which was state-of-the-art when it was built,[citation needed] the Goodlife Health Gym as well as shops like Grill'd, Schnitz, Rashays, San Churro and many more to come soon.[5] It's predecessor built in 2005, Star Zone Karingal was the first of the range of precincts that used the terminology of "Star Zone," but only had a handful of restaurants although it had expansive parking from all angles except the back of the precinct, of which half of this parking has turned into either shops or an expansive multi-level car park during the 2021 redevelopment of Karingal Hub (see § History and Developments).[6]
History & Developments
Early Years
Karingal Hub was opened in 1978 under the name "Centro Karingal" named after the original centres owners Centro Properties Group (Now called Vicinity Centres after a merge with Novion),[7] opening with 120 stores, including the two superstores of Big W and Safeway.[8] Karingal Hub would build a third space of a mall as huge as the two superstores sometime after this, but to have their monopoly secured on the locality they decided to buy this shop and create another Safeway store in it.[citation needed]
Growth
From 2005-2006 the busy centre came under a lot of new developments. The new Village Cinemas (see § Town Square) as well as Karingal's new entertainment and wellbeing multiplex opened in 2005 to compete with neighbouring shopping centre Bayside's plan to create an entertainment complex with a cinema inbedded into the design, which was completed just after Centro's plan in 2006, with the Bayside theater nowadays belonging to Hoyts. The multiplex in Karingal was disconnected from the main centre but shared the same management and parking. In 2006, redevelopment of the main shopping centre included refurbishment of the inner and outer facades as well as an extension of the north west portion where the modern Best and Less and River stores are currently located as well as it's new food court and open space area, adding up to a 12,500 square meter gross lettable area addition to the property.[citation needed]
Aquisition and redesignation
In July, 2013, Karingal Hub was acquired by ISPT (the Industry Superannuation Property Trust) from Federation Centres (Centro's name before the merging between it and Novion) for $115 million.[3][9] The Safeways in the centre would also be renamed to Woolworths on this same date.[10]
2021 and onwards
Construction of the Fresh Food Precinct (Aldi, Coles, Woolworths)
In 2021, Karingal Hub had a $160 million renovation and extension of its premises which included 12,000m of new shopping space added on onto the existing infrastructure in three stages and connected the two separate spaces of the main shopping mall and entertainment space,[11] with ideas first springing up about the plan in at least April of 2013.[12]
Stage 1
The first stage introduced Karingal Hub's new 'Fresh Food Precinct' which featured more than 28 fresh food and specialty retailers, including a new marketplace, Coles, Aldi, a refurbished Woolworths as well as additional stores such as Baker's Delight, Poultry Plus, Roll'd, Walker's Doughnuts, and more. [11]
Stage 2
The second stage opened more than 40 stores that were featured in its 'Fashion and Lifestyle Precinct' which includes places like Cotton On, Factorie, and more. This included the shutdown on the south Woolworth store in the centre, being turned into a Cotton On Megastore, Glue and Tk Maxx, which was being used as a monopoly to stop other retailers like Aldi or Coles from entering the centre, however this new renovation counteracts the monopoly and thus it was closed.[13] This stage also introduced the new Food Court now located near Big W and Tk Maxx. The previous food court in addition to it's open space area was completely demolished, reconstructed and became apart of the fashion precinct. There has been controversy due to this as some retailers such as McDonalds has not returned to Karingal Hub after this renovation for unknown reasons, although there is a McDonalds a couple blocks down the street. [14]
Karingal Hub's 'Happy Camp' Playground
Stage 3
The third and final stage introduced the new Karingal 'Town Square' located in the north west of the store residing in front of the Karingal Cinema Theater (see § Town Square). It includes the existing Village Cinemas and previous hotspot in front of it in addition to a range of dining experiences, communal gathering and play areas.[15][16]
Karingal Hub is within the local region of Karingal. It is located on Cranbourne Road, near the Eastlink freeway. The shopping centre has 3 levels of car parking including a new rooftop parking and two floors of shopping, with disabled parking bays, escalators, stairs and bicycle racks at all major entrances. [18]
It can be entered through a multitude of ways, including bus, train, taxi, uber, car, walking, biking, and more. [19]
In addition to these and the existing Frankston Station which can be used to travel to the centre by bus, Karingal Hub may forsee a new, easier and closer way to enter the facility using the new proposed "Stony Point Line Duplication" proposed by the Frankston City Council which will ensure that Karingal Hub is a street away from a train station that can connect the centre to the rest of Melbourne.[20]
Competition
Karingal Hub has two main local shopping centre competitors, Bayside Shopping Centre and the Frankston Power Centre, both located less than 5 kilometres from Karingal Hub.[21]
Gallery
Construction of Coles and Aldi precinct in Karingal Hub
Back view of Karingal Hub's 'Happy Camp' Playground
Outside view of completed Coles and Aldi precinct in Karingal Hub
