Innovative retirement village part of new trend for Boomers living
MELBOURNE: High-rise towers with cinemas, magnesium pools and even their own golf courses are becoming the new normal for retirement villages as the baby boomer generation drives a demand for live-in fun centres.
ACH Group has lodged plans for a proposed 13-storey retirement tower at Rose Park in the latest example of the trend for vertical villages with an abundance of recreational and health amenities.
The plans, which became public this month, reveal the $120m complex would repurpose the heritage-listed Vasey House as a recreation hub with billiards and activity rooms, while other floors would include a cinema, gym, swimming pool and yoga facilities.
The 44m-tall building would become the tallest on Fullarton Rd, containing 72 two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments.
Retirement Living Council executive director Daniel Gannon said in metro areas across Australia, eight in 10 development applications for retirement villages were vertical buildings.
“People want to stay living in the communities that they’ve lived and loved for decades. The only way for these people to stay in these communities is for the housing options to go up, rather than to go out,” he said.
“They’re also expecting more when it comes to amenities in these communities. We’re now seeing cinemas, magnesium pools, pickleball courts, hydrotherapy pools, gyms in retirement villages. This is retirement, but not as you know it.”
Mr Gannon said the baby boomer generation had “redefined everything that it’s ever touched, and retirement living is no exception for them”.
“They’ve got equity, they’ve got capital, but their expectations have changed as well, because they’re genuinely wanting more in the housing offerings that they’re demanding,” he said.
Living Choice Flagstaff Hill, a six-storey retirement village, is the first in South Australia to be integrated with a golf course. It also includes a magnesium pool, mini golf and Tai Chi classes.
Residents Heather and Geoff Cartwright, 71 and 74, said they did not play golf, but they frequented the bar and restaurant overlooking the course.
“The bar’s open, the meals are good and the company’s terrific,” Mr Cartwright said.
“So, even though we may not play golf, we can go up, sit and have a beautiful outlook overlooking the golf course. We get the benefits without having to chase the ball around.”
The couple does enjoy the mini golf (“a great thing with the grandkids”), along with partaking in the craft group, making use of the cinema and gym, and regularly socialising with other residents.
They said baby boomers were the best generation and knew “how to have fun in our old age”.
A proposed over-50s lifestyle resort at Strathalbyn would include a clubroom with a bowling alley, lawn bowls, a tennis court and a golf simulator.
The Rose Park development application, which requires approval from the State Planning Commission, is open for public feedback until February 13.