area. The Geelong Regional Commission on 6 November 1981 released a plan that would see a massive shopping centre extend from Little Malop Street though to the waterfront. This proposal did not proceed, but a scaled down version of the plans can be seen in the Market Square Shopping Centre and Bay City Plaza developments that did proceed. As 'Bay City Plaza' Construction of Bay City Plaza commenced in the mid 1980s. Corio and Blakiston Streets were closed, as was Macks Lane. The former power station was totally demolished, with the Strachan woolstores, Blakistons's offices and tram depot stripped internally, with only the facades reused. The Myer store remained, albeit with minor modifications and an altered facades along Malop Street. The centre was opened by then Victorian State Premier John Cain on 15 April 1988. The centre was under the ownership of the Perron Group. Little change occurred to the centre itself until 1993 when a minor refurbishment occurred. An additional multi-storey carpark was built by the Perron Group in the late 1990s. Known as the "Malop Street Carpark", it was located between Malop Street and Corio Street to the east of the existing shopping centre, on the site of a former council carpark. The site is now part of the current expansion works to the centre. On 30 June 2003 the Perron Group sold a 50% share of Bay City Plaza to the Westfield Group for $72 million. The renaming of the centre soon followed. After Westfield's acquisition of the centre, the new management increased the percentage of lettable area inside the complex, with new walkways constructed and the main atrium filled with additional stores and kiosks. Redevelopment The early 2000s saw proposals floated for the expansion of the shopping centre, utilising a flyover over Yarra Street, but this was met with a negative response from the community. The flyover was criticised for blocking views of Corio Bay from Yarra Street, and that the bridge was not just a walkway but an overhead carpark, shopping strip and roadway on a similar scale to the multi-level retail/pedestrian bridge at Westfield Southland. The development was given approval on 21 June 2006 and construction commenced in February 2007 and resulted in major closures to various parts of the centre, with Big W to be the key tenant of the Yarra Street section. A number of smaller shops on both the ground and