Major Queensland-based retirement village provider Palm Lake Group will be celebrating their 40th year of operations this 2018, and are continuing their company legacy with a range of new lifestyle community projects currently under development.
The group had humble beginnings as a caravan park in Victoria, and now decades later, run a host of 14 luxury villages alone throughout Queensland, with many more in New South Wales and Victoria.
Palm Lake Group founder Walter Elliott said a trip to the United States to explore the residential park model in 1973 changed the business’ future mission. After gathering first-hand feedback from over 50’s village residents in the States, Walter brought the model back to Australia.
“I decided to develop something along the same lines here in Australia. A site came up in 1976 in Bangholme, Victoria, and I purchased Willow Lodge in 1977.”
After the acquisition of Willow Lodge, Walter purchased the existing Bethania resort on Brisbane’s south side, where eventually the Palm Lake Resorts brand was born. Bethania residents Jean and Lindsay Dobson came up with the company’s name, inspired by the grand palm trees and adjoining lake on the site.
“We liked the name, so it stuck,” said Scott Elliott, Walter’s son and managing director of the group. He said he learned valuable lessons in the early days of Palm Lake Group’s formation.
“I learnt about treating people right – from the residents and the committee members to the staff. It’s something I’m still passionate about today,” Scott said.
“We have nearly 7000 residents across all the Palm Lake Resorts and they are all welcome to my phone number if they need me – many do call me direct.”
Palm Lake Group then purchased its first greenfield site at Banora Point, and afterwards at Deception Bay, with that development selling out in just 18 months.
With headquarters on the Gold Coast, the group now operates 20 manufactured home estates, including the new Caloundra Cay development, and three retirement villages alongside four Palm Lake Care facilities.
Work is currently underway on a fifth Palm Lake Care facility at Mt Warren Park, and the company is working on a number of locations on Australia’s east coast with at least three years of development plans already in production.
The Palm Lake retirement lifestyle resorts have enviable facilities; from competition-style, eight rink, undercover lawn bowls greens, professional tenpin bowling alleys, luxury cinemas, state-of- the-art gymnasiums, resort-style pools and amenities, the group has truly cemented a signature style of world-class retirement hospitality.
