Graeme Skerritt’s Pathways $72M aged care redevelopment gets green light
Pathways wins approval for historic Blue Mountains redevelopment
- Leura approved: Pathways can redevelop The Ritz into a 120-bed aged care home
- Historic site: The 1882 hotel will undergo a $72 million transformation
- Expansion plans: Pathways continues growing its aged care and seniors living pipeline
- Rose Bay project: Community consultation underway for seniors living proposal
The ambitious aged care operator’s planned redevelopment of the historic hotel in Leura has been approved.
Pathways’ $71.8 million The Ritz project, in Leura, a small village in the Blue Mountains 100km west of Sydney, will see the 1882 building converted to a 120-bed aged care home.
Plans went on display last October, receiving eight submissions, including five objections. The Director, Social and Diverse Housing Assessments granted consent to the development application subject to conditions.
The Leura site has primarily operated as a hotel. However, during World War II, it was used as a military convalescence hospital, and in 1970 the building was converted into a 150-bed nursing home.
Millie Phillips, of Milstern Health Care, owned and operated the aged care home for 40 years until the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency withdrew the facility’s accreditation in 2017, citing quality failings, in part due to the deterioration of the building.
Graeme Skerritt’s Pathways acquired the site in 2019 with a vision for revitalisation.
The operator’s initial plans to redevelop the building into a 140-bed aged care facility were knocked back in 2021, initially by the Blue Mountains City Council and then by the NSW Land and Environment Court.
Pathways revised the plans for a 120-bed aged care home, taking into account objections towards the earlier proposal. These were pursued as a State Significant Development, available to seniors housing projects worth more than $30 million (or more than $20 million outside Greater Sydney).
Pathways pursuing ambitious growth
Pathways has four aged care homes already in operation:
- the 105-bed aged care home in Killara, 14km north of the Sydney CBD;
- the 121-bed home in Northbridge, 6km north of the CBD;
- the 169-bed home in Cronulla, 29km south of the CBD; and
- the 122-bed home in Longueville, 10km west of the CBD
The operator also has State Significant Development approval for the $98.5 million Amara Cremorne, 7km north of the CBD, with 58 ILUs and a 41-bed aged care home.
In October 2025, Skerritt acquired a 3,000sqm site, consisting of five houses and two blocks of units in Rose Bay, in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, for $150 million.
Pathways is now consulting with the community on plans, with two community engagement events held this month.
The plan is to retain a small block of flats at 39 Dover Road, converting it to 38 residential aged care rooms, plus build 74 seniors independent living units, with parking, cinema, kitchens, and swimming pool. A State Significant Development application is under consideration.
