Stockland will on Friday start construction of its first greenfields "vertical" retirement village, a $63 million Oceanside Retirement Village on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.
The 140-unit, eight-storey development, Stockland's second vertical such village, is part of the $5 billion Oceanside master-planned community, and is due for completion in early 2018.
Located next to a new 151-bed Opal Aged Care facility, which will be ready for occupation in early 2017, the site is part of the ASX-listed developer's push to tap the growing market for aged care and retirement living. A quarter of Australia's population will be over 65 by 2056, it says. Last month the company outlined plans to build medical centres into masterplanned communities.
The vertical retirement community is Stockland's second vertical retirement living facility after its 240-unit redevelopment of Cardinal Freeman The Residences at Ashfield in Sydney's inner west.
"Vertical villages like this, create options for older Australians to downsize and move into connected communities with centralised health and lifestyle services," said Stockland group executive and chief executive of retirement living, Stephen Bull.
Stockland is Australia's second-largest operator of retirement villages, with 2.3 per cent of the $3.9 billion market, researcher IBISWorld says. Rival Aveo is larger with a 2.5 per cent stake of the highly disparate industry.
The industry is expected to grow 10 per cent annually through to 2022, IBISWorld says.
