Aged CareHarrison CaithnessWed 21 Oct 26
Coastal Seniors Village Plan Makes Room for 54 Homes Outside the Fold
Remara Capital wants to expand its South Cove masterplan with six one-to-four-storey seniors housing blocks beside a lagoon on the NSW South Coast.
The proposal for Sussex Inlet, Shoalhaven comprises a 17-bed aged care facility, 89 single and dual-bed independent living units and six three-bedroom villas.
Also proposed are 54 three-bed, two-storey dual occupancy houses for the site’s south portion which would not be restricted to seniors.
The irregular, densely-vegetated 3.19ha site at Lakeshore Parade and Suncrest Avenue on Dhurga land is about 200km south of Sydney, across an inlet from Jervis Bay.
Remara won Stage 1 council approval in 2023 for a subdivision of 42 residential lots west of the site. Those lots are on the market.
The latest proposal is Stage 2 of the larger eastern superlot, which Remara plans to subdivide into three lots for its seniors living and dual occupancy precincts.
The two sites, rezoned in 2013 under the Badgee Urban Release Area, are in a horseshoe shape neighbouring conserved bushland and the Badgee Lagoon.
Also in the proposal, retail space of 391sq m would be set aside for a cafe and hairdresser in a building called the Community Heart.
That building, at the site’s north end, would comprise a reception area, gym, cinema, outdoor pool and fire pit.
A large western portion of the lot is a Category 1 high bushfire risk area, but the site is predominantly immune to flooding—other areas in the township, in the St Georges Basin, however do flood.
Remara proposes 89 car spaces for the independent living units, plus street parking—a 26-space shortfall that development application documents justify by stating that seniors own fewer cars.
Double lots for the 54 dual occupancy homes would bring total car spaces to 133.
The Property Council of Australia estimated 67,000 independent living units need to be built by 2030 and 10,600 additional aged care beds are needed every year to accommodate Australia’s ageing population.
Shoalhaven’s population comprises 20 per cent 70-plus-year-olds, above the state’s 12 per cent average.
The Federal government anticipates an additional 2.3 million Australians aged 70 and older by 2046.
Shoalhaven is outpacing NSW’s average year-on-year population growth and is the subject of a draft 20-year housing strategy.
Remara’s seniors housing development would cost about $86 million to build.
