Ryman Healthcare Pays $48m for North Melbourne Site

New Zealand developer Ryman Healthcare is planning an integrated retirement village on Coburg North site it has paid $48.2 million to acquire.  

Plans for the 2.56ha site at 14-22 Gaffney Street in Melbourne’s north include modern independent living apartments and a full aged-care centre with specialist dementia care. 

The village will also have a cafe, bar, gym, cinema, pool and hair and beauty salons with more than 130 long-term jobs created in the area during and after construction. 

The site is less than 10km from the CBD and is next to the Batman train station, a tram stop and the Pentridge Shopping Centre.

There will also be a commercial space provided along Gaffney Street for retail, hospitality and health services. 

Ryman Australia chief executive Cameron Holland said the planned village would allow residents to be part of city life as well as access to services for post-retirementl iving.

“What we know at Ryman is that retiring doesn’t mean slowing down,” Holland said.

“With more free time on their hands, older Australians want to get busy living life to the full.”

Holland said having aged care on site meant residents would not need to leave the viallge for healthcare.

“Since opening our first village in Melbourne in 2014 we’ve seen an extremely strong appetite for high-quality retirement living communities that offer aged care on site,” Holland said.

▲ Nellie Melba at Wheelers Hill was Ryman’s second village to open in Victoria.

Melbourne Acquisitions brokered the sale on behalf of local investors who had held the site since the 1990s. 

Ryman Healthcare is yet to lodge a development application. It expects the end value of the project to be around $350 million.

The company has seven other villages in Victoria and another seven in development. 

Around 900 Australians are residents in Ryman Healthcare villages.

Its first Australian village opened in Melbourne eight years ago. Ryman has invested more than $1.2 billion in Victoria alone since then.

The company has been operating in New Zealand with this model of integrated aged care for almost 40 years.