29 October 2019
Two retirement and aged care towers up to 25 storeys high will rise from a former hospital site under new development plans lodged with Gold Coast City Council.
Bolton Clarke, a major not-for-profit independent living, health and aged care services provider, lodged the plans on 24 October.
The towers will form part of the $550 million Queen Street Village master planned residential precinct on the former Gold Coast Hospital site. The hospital closed in September 2013 and was demolished between late 2014 and early 2015.
The development will incorporate 146 two and three-bedroom independent living units, 40 assisted living apartments and a 72-bed residential aged care facility, in two towers (one 19 storeys and the other 25 storeys).
Other features include:
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An 8th floor communal residents’ area with 850 square metres of internal and 1430 square metres of outdoor recreation space, including a pool and a 200m skywalk around the perimeter.
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1140 square metres of ground-floor retail space
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A 25th floor resident clubhouse and outdoor terrace
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Residents will have direct access to the Village precinct, which will include a Dendy cinema, IGA, pharmacy, medical centre, pathology and allied health services, a Mercure Hotel and a child care centre.
Bolton Clarke General Manager Property Development James Mantis said: “The project has been designed to give residents lifestyle choices that encourage them to participate in a vibrant local community, with the services they need at their doorstep.”
“The design will give people ready access to transport and social activities as well as health and wellbeing practitioners.”
The development will address significant growth and undersupply of independent and assisted living options in the Northern Gold Coast and growing demand across the region, where around 20 per cent of residents are aged over 65.
Work on the two-year build is expected to start in late 2020.
Vertical villages a growing trend
The plans are part of a growing trend, whereby retirement living operators are increasingly building vertical villages.
Building denser and taller retirement villages makes it more cost-efficient for village developers to construct or access the amenities increasingly sought by incoming residents, such as gyms, pools, health and beauty salons and cinemas.
In addition, building vertical villages allows retirees to be near bustling and vibrant urban centres, where they can access restaurants, shopping and arts and cultural opportunities.
According to the Property Council of Australia’s 2018 Retirement Living Census, retirement villages increasingly contain multi-storey buildings.
Some 30 per cent of new villages include these types of buildings, compared to only 15 per cent of existing villages.
See Bolton Clarke properties for sale here on Downsizing.com.au.
