NATIONAL: Retail property giant Westfield will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year with a series of multimillion dollar projects.
In its annual report to shareholders, Westfield confirmed it will commence $300 million of Australian projects in the second half of 2010, including Fountain Gate shopping centre in Melbourne. This is in addition to the new $350 million office tower planned for Sydney's central business district.
The company was forced to put a halt on launching new projects last year due to the global financial crisis.
In its annual report to shareholders, the company confirmed the recently announced overall operational earnings of $2.064 billion, up 6.2 per cent on the prior year.
Total retail sales in the Australian portfolio for the 12 months were $21.5 billion, up 3.8 per cent on 2008.
Westfield group has 11 centres in its Australian portfolio, each generating over $700 million in annual sales.
It reported that Westfield Bondi Junction in Sydney is the first centre in the portfolio to generate over $1 billion in annual sales.
Westfield Doncatster in Melbourne has annual sales in excess of $720 million and is one of the top five performing centres in the Australian portfolio.