Westfield Jumps on Wireless Bandwagon

SAN DIEGO-Australia-based retail giant Westfield has decided to take all of its US shopping centers wireless, in the latest sign of this technology’s growing pervasiveness throughout the commercial real estate industry.

San Diego-based Wireless Facilities Inc. has been chosen as Westfield’s turnkey partner in this endeavor. WFI, which designs, deploys and manages wireless telecommunications networks, will be the exclusive provider of Wireless LAN integration services for Westfield’s 63 shopping centers located in the United States. As a result, each of these retail centers (known as Westfield Shoppingtowns) will eventually be equipped with high-speed, wireless Internet service. The first properties to receive the service will be the Westfield Shoppingtowns in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Jose, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York, with subsequent locations to be equipped on an ongoing basis.

“Today we are seeing the rapid integration of wireless technology into the enterprise space, with an increasing number of retail and commercial establishments offering high-speed Internet access and other amenities as an additional feature to their customers,” says Frankie Farjood, president of Enterprise Solutions, WFI. “Westfield is taking this a step further by being the first fully integrated shopping center company to wirelessly enable all of their locations.”

Westfield serves as developer, architect, builder, and property manager for an $18.4-billion portfolio of 112 shopping centers worldwide, encompassing more than 90 million sf of retail space. Westfield America Inc. is the United States subsidiary of Westfield America Trust, the second-largest property trust listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. WFA owns a majority interest in the Westfield America portfolio of Westfield Shoppingtowns, which consists of 64 million sf in the states of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Washington.