The family behind the 46-year-old A&L Florist wholesale shopfront and 32,400 sqm farm in Bossley Park, 36km west of the Sydney CBD, want to knock down the business and build a 100-unit retirement village, 144-bed aged care facility and 150-space underground car park on Horsley Drive.
The Oliveri family say the rising value of the land – and shortage of retirement living and aged care facilities – in the area has prompted the launch of Alora Gardens Estates.
“The value of the land was too much to grow flowers on, so instead of just selling it for housing, we thought ‘what could we do with it?’,” Vince Olivieri, the general manager of A&L Florist, told the Daily Telegraph.
“There is retirement living here, but it’s very limited and there’s at least a four-year waitlist in this area,” he said. “We need a lot more retirement living.”
The aged care facility will be run by a third-party operator, while the one-, two- and three-bedroom units will be two storeys at most.
The family will move their floristry operations to their second farm in nearby Horsley Park.
The plan is before the Sydney Western City Planning Panel and expected to be finalised within nine months with construction due to start in November 2020.
