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Fremantle Westgate Mall
The idea for Westgate Mall emerged in the early 1960s, as part of a City of Fremantle initiative to revitalize the east end of the central business district. The block was bounded by Adelaide, Queen, Cantonment and Point Streets. At the time, it was an area that was occupied by aging shops, a church and residences.
In 1964, the City oversaw the demolition of several old buildings on this block (including a 19th-century Congregational church amongst other structures) to make way for a new development. The project was a collaboration between the local council and private enterprise, intended to stimulate Fremantle’s commercial activity and counter the lure of suburban shopping centres.
Construction of the shopping centre and its integrated parking station proceeded in 1964–65. The complex, known as the Westgate Shopping Centre, was designed by the architectural firm Oldham, Boas, Ednie-Brown & Partners and built by contractor Fairweather & Son. The design featured an L-shaped pedestrian arcade running through the middle of the block, providing access to the stores from multiple street fronts and linking directly to a new multi-level car park on Point Street. This car park, originally called the Westgate Parking Station, had space for roughly 400 vehicles and was notable as Western Australia’s first split-level parking structure.
Grand Opening and Early Success
Westgate Mall was officially opened on 15 December 1965 by Charles Court, who at the time, was Minister for Industrial Development (and later the Premier). Built at a cost of £2 million, it consisted of 27 retail shops plus a banking chamber.
The mall’s debut was heralded as a major step forward for Fremantle’s retail scene. It was promoted as the “shopping mecca” of Fremantle’s western and southern suburbs, exemplifying cooperative development between the city council and private businesses.
Early tenants included prominent retailers like G. J. Coles variety store on the Adelaide Street side, complete with a cafeteria on its mezzanine level. On the Queen Street side, local department store Bairds opened a two-level branch. There was also a Walsh’s department store and other specialty shops and services. The centre was designed so shoppers could park in the adjacent Point Street carpark and walk into the arcade without crossing traffic. In its first years, Westgate Mall proved very popular, with the complex bustling with shoppers.
November 2020
Changing Fortunes
By the early 1970s, Westgate Mall faced new competition that shifted Fremantle’s retail gravity. The Myer Emporium (a major department store group) acquired Bairds in 1969, using the Fremantle Bairds store as its entry point into the Western Australian market. Rather than continue operations in Westgate, Myer decided to build a much larger four-story department store in Fremantle’s Kings Square, about 100 meters away. That new Myer store opened in August 1972, drawing shoppers toward Kings Square. With a big modern Myer and later, the adjacent Queensgate shopping centre opening in 1987, the focus of Fremantle’s retail activity moved away from Westgate Mall. Within seven years of its opening, Westgate saw a notable decline in foot traffic as customers were lured to the bigger shopping hub around Kings Square.
During this period, Westgate’s original anchor stores changed hands or rebranded. After the Myer’s takeover, the Bairds department store at Westgate did not remain in its original format for long. Eventually the building was re-purposed as a Target discount department store (Target being part of the Myer/Coles retail family). Target continues to operate on the old Bairds site at the corner of Queen and Adelaide Streets. The Coles variety store, meanwhile, continued operating through the 1970s but began winding down in the 1980s, as Coles shifted completely into the supermarket business. By the late 1980s, Coles New World ceased its variety store operations nationwide, leaving its large Westgate space empty.
In an effort to keep the centre viable, another discount retailer called Fosseys, took over the former Coles premises in the 1980s. Smaller shops in the mall struggled during this era, as consumers increasingly gravitated towards the newer and much bigger shopping precincts.
August 2021
Decline, Vacancy and Community Impact
The 1990s brought further changes but also marked the start of a long decline for the Westgate Mall. In 1995, Fosseys’ parent company sold the Adelaide Street building (the old Coles/Fosseys site) to Spotlight, a national fabric and homewares chain. Spotlight renovated the space and opened a large craft and haberdashery superstore there, becoming the new anchor tenant in the mall during the late 1990s. For awhile, having Spotlight alongside Target gave Westgate Mall two substantial stores and the mall continued to serve local shoppers in those niches. However, the smaller specialty shops in the arcade saw less benefit and many remained empty or rotated through short-lived tenancies, as overall foot traffic in the mall remained low. Vince Petrucci of Fremantle Tailors has been a tenant of Westgate Mall since 1993, continuing his trade there, even today after 32 years.
By the 2000s, Westgate Mall had gained a reputation as a forlorn and underutilized part of Fremantle’s city centre. Spotlight closed its Fremantle store in 2007 (after about a decade) as part of a business consolidation, leaving that anchor building vacant. Once they’d departed, Westgate Mall entered a prolonged period of vacancy and neglect. The former Coles/Spotlight building sat empty for the next ten years and many of the smaller retail tenancies in the mall were either vacant or occupied by transient businesses.
September 2021
The physical condition of the mall deteriorated noticeably. By the 2010s, photos showed boarded-up or empty shopfronts, with outdated 1960s architecture in decay. Local sentiment about the mall turned negative. It was often described as an eyesore and in 2016, even the Mayor of Fremantle remarked that “nothing but a bomb” could improve the Westgate area, underscoring the frustration with its blighted state.
Despite this, Westgate Mall still evoked nostalgia for Fremantle residents who remembered its heyday. Generations of locals with memories of shopping trips, which made its decline more bittersweet.
The community and city leaders grew determined to address the stagnation in Fremantle’s East End, including the Westgate block. The City of Fremantle launched broader revitalization plans and pop-up initiatives temporarily activating vacant spaces.
One notable effort was MANY 6160, a collective of local designers and retailers that had occupied the empty Myer building in Kings Square. When that space had to be cleared for redevelopment, the collective, rebranded as MANY 2.0, was invited to relocate into the vacant Spotlight building in 2017. This temporary use brought some life back to the old mall by hosting art, fashion and start-up retail stalls. The reprieve was short-term and by this time, plans were already taking shape to redevelop the site.
October 2021
Redevelopment and Little Lane
After decades of underuse, the Westgate Mall was targeted for major redevelopment to reimagine the space for modern needs. Fremantle-based developer Yolk Property Group acquired the former Spotlight building and mall arcade in the late 2010s, working in partnership with the City of Fremantle to formulate a renewal project. The project, branded “Little Lane,” aimed to transform the derelict mall into a vibrant mixed-use development. The name “Little Lane” was chosen as a nod to the old Westgate pedestrian mall, preserving a link to its history, while signalling a new beginning.
Development plans proposed a mid-rise residential apartment complex to be built on the footprint of the former mall, with the ground floor opened up as a laneway-style retail and dining precinct.
August 2023
Demolition
Demolition of the remaining Westgate Mall structures began in early 2020. The long-vacant former Coles/Spotlight building was internally stripped out and then demolished, along with parts of the old arcade, clearing the site for construction . By mid-2020, construction was well underway on the new apartments.
The Little Lane development was substantial. A $22 million project that would see 70 apartments constructed across seven storeys, with 500 m² of ground-floor commercial space reserved for shops and cafés.
Construction was completed in 2022, making it the first significant new residential building on Adelaide Street in years.
The redevelopment of the Westgate Mall site was part of a broader renewal of Fremantle’s city centre. In parallel with Little Lane, the City of Fremantle and private partners invested in the Kings Square Renewal Project, a $270 million overhaul of the civic centre and commercial area near Westgate Mall. This included new state government offices, a revamped retail complex (the FOMO precinct) and a new civic building for the City of Fremantle. This was a result of trying to draw workers and visitors back into the heart of Fremantle.
Rejuvenating the East End encompasses other projects, like a 150-room DoubleTree Hilton hotel proposed for the corner of Point and Adelaide Streets (the site of the old Westgate car park).
November 2023
