Levande to spend $1B-plus on seven retirement village projects

The retirement village operator, owned by EQT Infrastructure, the Swedish-based private equity firm, has seven projects starting or topping out early this year.

The projects will total around 1,000 extra independent living units, a significant figure given the low numbers of new village units being put on the ground across the country.

In the past year alone, Levande has raised $2 billion, created a development pipeline in NSW and Victoria, and lined up multiple developments, including in Queensland.

The seven projects hitting new milestones in February and March are:

• Cardinal Freeman, Ashfield, 8km west of Sydney’s CBD: a topping out ceremony will be held for the final 41 apartments on Monday, 16 February. The new building completes the total redevelopment of the site, which originally had 240 apartments when built by EPM Projects for $120 million in 2019.

• Somerton Park, a seaside suburb of Adelaide: Thursday, 19 February will see a sod turning for a new clubhouse and 34 villas, an expansion of the existing village.
• Hills Showground, Castle Hill, 34km northwest of Sydney’s CBD: a further sod turning will be held on Tuesday, 3 March, with 14 houses to be demolished for a new village of 217 independent living apartments.

• Bentleigh East, 14km southeast of Melbourne’s CBD: Thursday, 12 March will host a sod turning for the redevelopment of former light industrial land into a new village for around 400 residents across four buildings. Stage one is for 85 apartments, with the final development to boast over 250 apartments.

• Highton, Geelong, 75km from Melbourne’s CBD: Thursday 19 March will see a sod turning on the greenfield site for a new 120-unit village.
• Oak Grange, Brighton East, 12km southeast of Melbourne’s CBD: Monday, 23 March is expected to see this redevelopment approaching fitout stage, with first of 201 new one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments across multiple buildings.
• Oatlands, 23km northwest of Sydney’s CBD: Tuesday, 24 March will also feature a sod turning for 127 independent living units to be built across three new buildings at the Oatlands Golf Course.

The Weekly SOURCE reported on 19 January that Levande had made its first land acquisition for a retirement village in Queensland, totalling 206 apartments.

The Castle Hill site is about 14km from Levande’s 28-storey $200 million vertical retirement village, The Cambridge, in Epping, which opened in November last year. The Cambridge includes 158 independent living apartments and a 132-bed aged care facility by Opal HealthCare. 

Two of Levande’s retirement villages: Castle Ridge, 34km north-west of Sydney’s CBD, and Lourdes in Killara, 14km north-west, have been withheld from sale for over eight years. 

Lourdes is a State Significant Development Application and a Scoping Report has been submitted. Plans to rebuild Castle Ridge will be announced soon.