Feast of rooftop dining opening to public
Auckland’s first rooftop dining and entertainment precinct, in Westfield Newmarket’s $790 million mall, officially opens to the public today.
The indoor and alfresco terrace on top of the Australian mall operator’s newly developed “lifestyle centre” is home to 10 eateries, including Peruvian concept Inca, and Asian fusion restaurant White + Wong’s.
Rockpool Group, owned by private equity firm Quadrant, is also opening The Bavarian. Others include Corner Burger, Island Gelato, Ippudo Ramen and New York Grill.
Rooftop on Broadway spreads over almost 9000sq m, with an Event cinema scheduled to open in the precinct before Christmas.
Scentre Group regional manager Paul Gardner said the group expected the rooftop dining terrace to “amplify” the number of people coming through the centre because it would offer late-night dining, up until 1am for some operators.
Event Cinemas and David Jones would also be drawcards once they had opened in the next couple of months, he said.
Since the first stage of opening in August, Westfield Newmarket has had tens of thousands of shoppers through its doors.
The centre has experienced up to 30,000 people through its doors on a single Saturday, Gardnersaid.
“After just over a month, [trade] has exceeded our expectations. Our retail partners are telling us the response has been beyond their sales budgets,” Gardner told the Herald.
Quadrant’s Rockpool owns and operates 74 restaurants throughout Australia under 15 restaurants brands, including The Bavarian and Spice Temple. The company plans to open up to seven restaurants in New Zealand in the next two years and spend about $30m in the expansion.