A development application has been lodged with Wagga City Council which would see the shopping centre’s floor space extended across the car park located behind the Marketplace’s Australia Post outlet.

Marketplace centre manager Maria Sharman said the underground car park would also be renovated and extended to replace the outdoor parking spaces lost to the redevelopment.

If the plans are approved, Ms Sharman said the construction would begin in 2013 and take up to 12 months to complete.

As the proposed development is located adjacent to the mall, it is expected to cause very little disruption to the centre’s daily trade.

Though management has yet to confirm which retailers will be moving into the 16 speciality stores and one mini-major – a shop similar to the size of Priceline or The Reject Shop – Ms Sharman expects the development will draw interest from local and national businesses.

“When the Marketplace first came here it was the first major centre to open and it brought that city shopping to Wagga,” she said.

“The current mix of retail service is not looking to change, we are looking to add to it.”

Ms Sharman said the expansion has been discussed by the Marketplace’s owners, Industry Superannuation Property Trust, for the past two years, but it wasn’t until this year that they got the ball rolling.

“The centre turned 15 this year,” she said.

“They (ISPT) have been very happy with the centre and want to grow it.

“The feedback from the retailers has been really good.”

The development application will go before Wagga City Council at its next meeting.

Follow @jademartin_

None