The Glen shopping centre, in Melbourne's south-east, will get a $500 million transformation, resulting in new apartments, more stores and expanded dining areas.
The co-owners, Federation Centres and the Perron Group, have lodged development plans that include three residential towers, 200 more specialty shops and "signature" restaurants.
Federation Centres executive general manager of development and asset strategy Jonathan Timms said the Mandurah Forum shopping centre in Western Australia would also be upgraded. The two projects were worth a combined $800 million and Federation Centres was contributing about $300 million.
"As well as these new redevelopment applications, Federation Centres' $113 million redevelopment of Cranbourne Park will open in March 2015 and three additional redevelopments are commencing in early 2015, which have a combined value of $190 million," he said.
In Glen Waverley, Melbourne, The Glen will expand by 17,000 square metres to create a gross lettable area of 76,000 square metres.
"We are completely transforming The Glen's retail offer, to serve one of the most desirable consumer demographics in the country with new-to-market international retailers, the latest national brands, a revitalised major tenant offer and more than 200 speciality stores," Mr Timms said.
The proposed development included three residential towers with more than 500 residences.
Retail analysts say mall developments are a reflection of the changing focus and uses of a traditional shopping centre, which are now seen as "integrated villages". That is a move back to the past, where these areas were considered the town centre and communal meeting hubs.
Across the country all landlords, including Scentre, GPT, Mirvac, Stockland, Novion Property, AMP Capital, and DEXUS, are redeveloping their malls to include high-rise housing, a wider range of tenants and expanded food courts.
In some cases, office space for short or long-term hire, expanded creches and day care and meeting rooms are offered as de rigueur for a mall, to capture and keep local shoppers and small business operators.
Colliers International's head of retail Michael Bate said regional shopping centres (larger than 20,000 square metres) continued to adapt through increased food and beverage, introducing international retailers or by incorporating mixed-use components. Super regional centres in particular were getting stronger as destinations.
"Non-retail uses in regional shopping centres are increasing. While cinemas and office suites are now commonplace, the last few years has seen the introduction of gyms, childcare services, medical centres and libraries," Mr Bate said.
"A number of regional shopping centre expansions recently opened include Macquarie Centre in Sydney and Westfield Garden City in Brisbane and GPT's Wollongong Central."
These also include residential towers, such as Mirvac plans at Birkenhead Point in Sydney.
Construction has also started on a number of expansions, including Chadstone Shopping Centre and Eastlands in Melbourne, and Pacific Fair and Australia Fair on the Gold Coast.
CBRE's Retail MarketView said regional centre rents grew by 1.1 per cent nationally during 2014, with a highlight being the 5.5 per cent growth recorded in Victoria.
CBRE's head of research, Australia, Stephen McNabb said regional centre managers were increasingly focused on changing their tenancy mix to boost performance and respond to the behavioural changes of shoppers and competition from online retailing.
"In the medium to long term we expect a much larger proportion of centre gross lettable area to be occupied by leisure and retail services – potentially 20-25 per cent in top regional centres – as landlords look to enhance the customer experience and combat online retailing, as well as attract tenants who can support retail growth and whose services cannot be bought online," Mr McNabb said.
