Christchurch-based Ryman Healthcare has paid out $47.5 million to buy the former Brandon Park Secondary College in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. At $854 a square metre the 5.5 ha property sets a new land value record for a major suburban infill site in Melbourne.
Ryman CEO Simon Challies says they have been watching the site for five years and plan to build a $100M apartment style village and care facility housing 400 residents. He predicts a 30 month construction and sales cycle. They intend building one new village a year in Australia, concentrating on Victoria, from 2017.
Demonstrating their commitment to Australia, the Group Sales Manager Debbie McClure moved here last year and they have opened an Australian Head Office at Brandon Park.
After two years construction their first village at Wheelers Hill is receiving residents now and will officially open in August. They have named it Weary Dunlop Village after the Australian surgeon made famous for his leadership as a prisoner of the Japanese during World War II after the fall of Singapore. He also played in the victorious 1932 Wallabies side that won the Bledisloe Cup from the all Blacks.
