In July last year, the village operator announced it had acquired 14 houses in Castle Hill, in Sydney’s northwest, spanning approximately 1.25 hectares with multiple street frontages, for just under $46 million.
The properties, purchased in April 2024, were part of Castle Hill’s Showground precinct, which has undergone significant urban transformation as part of the Sydney Metro project.
Levande's plan to build 217 independent living apartments (ILAs) across five buildings in a mid-rise village format, plus neighbourhood shop and wellness clubhouse, has now been approved by the Sydney Central City Planning Panel and The Hills Shire Council, which backed a concurrent Amending Concept Development Application (DA) and Detailed DA. The site already had development approval for 242 residential apartments, communal open space and landscaping in a central courtyard.
The village design was by CHROFI and Turf Design Studio.
"This approval is another key milestone in Levande’s national development pipeline. Projects like Hills Showground are essential if we’re to meet the surging demand for quality retirement living options as Australia’s population ages. We remain focused on delivering well-located, high-quality communities that respond to both market need and the lifestyle expectations of tomorrow’s retirees," Levande CEO Kevin McCoy said.
"The Hills Showground project reflects exactly the kind of strategic site we’re targeting as we scale up to deliver 450 to 500 independent living units annually. With strong demographics, excellent local amenity and planning certainty now in place, we’re well positioned to move into delivery and continue building much-needed retirement housing supply."
Levande, which was created when Sweden's EQT acquired Stockland’s 58 retirement villages in February 2022, is emerging as the largest new village builder in the sector. The approved site is about 14km from Levande’s 28-storey vertical retirement village, The Cambridge, in Epping, which is due for completion in spring 2025. The Cambridge design includes 172 independent living apartments and a 132-bed aged care facility by Opal HealthCare.
The Weekly SOURCE reported in March that Levande had purchased four sites for new retirement villages.
