By Tate Papworth
Sunshine’s Marketplace shopping centre is set for a radical overhaul.
The centre’s owners, Vicinity Centres, have lodged planning permits with Brimbank council to create a new dining and leisure precinct and an 84-room serviced apartment hotel.
Vicinity Centres’ said the proposed dining and leisure precinct will contain up to 11 new restaurants and casual dining options.
It will also feature landscaped gardens and open space, a children’s play area and a dedicated community entertainment zone.
The serviced apartment hotel follows recent upgrades to Vicinity’s flagship centre Chadstone, where a $130 million, 250-room hotel was opened in October.
Sunshine Business Association president Carson Luk said the centre will play a vital role in the transformation of Sunshine.
“Sunshine Marketplace is and has been a major shopping centre in the area,” he said.
“We’d hope to see this not only continue, but for the centre to capture the current opportunities available in the area by: development of an evening economy. ”
Mr Luk said the upgrades have the potential to attract attract increased investment of mixed use and commercial development.
While the centre is set for a whole new look, there are plans to incorporate the past.
The iconic Millennium Man statue will be restored as part of the upgrades and continue to be a prominent feature at the centre.
Resident Dinesh Jayasuriya has led a campaign to have the Zeus-like creation restored and welcomed the news.
“That’s a great idea, he was originally meant to only be around a few years, so hopefully once they fix him up he’ll be around for half a century or more before he needs work done,” Mr Jayasuriya said.
“It will probably require him to be moved, he’s probably beyond fixing up on location.”
Mr Jayasuriya hopes the statue could become a focal point of Sunshine when the super hub train station is built.
“Ideally they’d move him out of the carpark and on to Hampshire Road so more people will see him,” he said.
“It would be great if we could dress him up to reflect the season, for example we could dress him up as Santa in December.
“It would be a real reason for people to get off the train and have a walk through Sunshine.”
