New Zealand-based Ryman Healthcare is on track to be Victoria’s largest retirement living and aged care operator, after announcing it has purchased an operational retirement complex and will expand an existing village.
Ryman opened its first Victorian village in 2014. It currently has five operational villages in the State and seven more in the pipeline.
Ryman has announced it has purchased the existing 36-dwelling Essendon Terrace retirement apartments, which are currently home to 22 residents and will become part of a larger Ryman project which is still under development.
The purchase of Essendon Terrace marks a significant shift for Ryman, which has designed and built all its other Victorian villages as new developments.
The Essendon Terrace retirement apartments complex, at 262-270 Pascoe Vale Rd, neighbours the 1.8 hectare site Ryman purchased in May, where it plans to build a new $165 million retirement village.
As well as acquiring Essendon Terrace, Ryman has also announced the purchase of the 2.35ha block of land next to its operational Deborah Cheetham Retirement Village in Ocean Grove near Geelong, with plans to build a further 66 villas on the site.
the existing operational village has been completed
The planned expansion will see the completed village offering a total of 148 two and three bedroom independent villas, as well as 53 assisted living suites and a 120-bed care centre.
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Since 2014, Ryman has invested more than $1 billion in Victoria and created more than 2,400 jobs. Its five operational villages are home to almost 1,000 residents.
With Ryman’s current sites, and its development pipeline of seven new villages, the company’s investment in the State is set to pass $2.5 billion.
Given Ryman's stated intentions to further grow its development pipeline, the company says it is on track to be Victoria’s biggest operator in the retirement living and aged care sectors in the near future.
performing arts star Deborah Cheetham (centre)
Ryman Healthcare Australia CEO Cameron Holland said the two purchases marked another significant stride forward in the company’s ambitious growth plans.
“Buying what is now our sixth operational village at Essendon Terrace is really exciting for us, but it’s also an important signal that we’re looking for opportunities to grow wherever they might be,” Mr Holland said.
“Acquiring sites for new, purpose-built village communities underpins our growth strategy but we’re also actively looking to adapt our development model to bring our retirement living and care offering to new settings.”
For us it’s not whether we grow, it’s whether we can find enough suitable sites in great locations to grow as fast as we want to.
“To do that we need to be creative, strategic, and open to partnering with all kinds of different organisations who might be looking to sell property to the right kind of buyer.”
All Ryman Healthcare’s villages include retirement living, assisted living in serviced apartments, and an aged care centre, which the company says makes it unique in the Victorian market.
Mr Holland said the planned expansion of the Deborah Cheetham Retirement Village in Ocean Grove was evidence of the strong demand for Ryman’s full continuum of care offering.
“All the available stages of retirement villas at Deborah Cheetham sold out faster than we ever imagined they would, and we have a long waiting list of people wanting to get in," he said.
“When the neighbouring property became available for sale, it presented an opportunity to meet that extra demand.
It’s just further confirmation for us that there’s an incredibly strong appetite in the Victorian market for world class retirement living communities that also offer aged care on site.”
FIND OUT MORE:
- Browse the Ryman villages listed on Downsizing.com.au here
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