Land and store space in the Sylvia Park development is let out to a wide variety of major retailers, one cinema complex and one supermarket.

During the Second World War the United States Joint Purchasing Board contracted the New Zealand Public Works Department to construct storage facilities on a 21.77 ha site that had originally been part of the Sylvia Park Stud.

[6] As the United States Forces reduced their presence after the war the New Zealand Army began to occupy the site from 1946 as a storage area with full occupancy achieved in 1948.

[9] The development is owned by Sylvia Park Business Centre Ltd (SPBCL), a subsidiary of Kiwi Property Group.

This resulted in a very high shopper turnout on the opening day, and despite planning by SPBCL, caused severe gridlock on the notoriously busy Auckland Southern Motorway as well as major arterial routes in the vicinity of the centre, including the South-Eastern and Mount Wellington Highways.

In contrast to the initial interest, weekday retail sales were soon considered to be flagging, with the centre being nicknamed 'Spooky Park' by some.

[14] Stage Four opened in June 2007, and finished the retail area of the centre, which now has 200 shops covering 6.5 ha of indoors space and is valued at NZ$450 million.

[16] A residential expansion within the shopping centre and business park's grounds opened in July 2024 with 295 build-to-rent apartments.

Kiwi Income noted that it had always planned to develop offices around the perimeter of the centre, but had delayed this until the retail was starting to take off.

[3] Kiwi Property have begun the $280 million expansion, which sees the construction of a nine-floor office block and 20,000 square meters of addition retail space.