Retirees driving $1 billion bonanza
NEARLY $1 billion in retirement developments are on the drawing board to cater for the city’s elderly.
Developers are pouring millions into high-end units and townhouses targeting the growing over-65s market.
The Gold Coast City Council is assessing at least 12 retirement projects, including at least two specially designed “retirement towers” at Kirra and Labrador.
But far from the spartan, nondescript retirement villages of the past, the developments are aiming for a modern, luxurious way for the elderly to spend their golden years.
Amenities include swimming pools, media rooms and healthy living activity rooms, while the towers would offer stunning views of the ocean.
Most are located near major shopping centres, with some units having up to three bedrooms to allow for guests.
Of those, 10 were submitted to the council in the past year, including a $30 million, 105bed facility planned by developer Japara Healthcare for a site at Robina; an 11-level “vertical village” put forward by Aura Holdings for Kirra’s Golden Four Rive; and a 130bed home by the Gold Coast Jewish Foundation for the Aged on an Arundel site.
Real Estate Institute of Queensland Gold Coast boss and board member John Newlands said the city’s lifestyle was driving the “explo- sion” in retirement projects.
“It is a mixture of downsizers who are already living here as well as new people moving to the Gold Coast who want to live in these projects,” he said.
“Some people are simply not ready to go into a nursing home-type facility, but can live in a place where they can enjoy different levels of care and life.
“This is great news for both the real estate and development industries in the city.”
The latest application made to the council is for the Oak Tree Retirement Village, proposed for the site occupied by the Gold Coast Italian Club.
The clubhouse and some of its soccer fields would remain while the remainder of the site was redeveloped by Oak Tree, which already operates 30 such villages across the country, including at Cairns and Hobart.
The new village would feature 94 units built on the Fairway Dve site.
Once completed, it would sit just across the road from developer Sunland’s proposed $200 million The Lanes Shopping Centre and Lakes housing development.
The Bulletin last month revealed retirement giant Aveo Group wants to build a highrise targeting seniors just a handful of metres from the Broadwater.
City planning boss Councillor Cameron Caldwell said he was pleased with the spike in applications for retirement projects.
“This is great news for the Gold Coast and reflects the demographic shift we are currently seeing,” he said.