AGED Care provider Ryman Healthcare has given up on its plans to build a $95 million retirement village at Mount Martha after a five-year battle trying to get planning approval.
Ryman Healthcare will put the 1.9-hectare Bentons Road site back on the market following the Mornington Peninsula’s Shire Council’s rejection of its application and a failed bid to overturn the decision at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
The retirement village would have included a three-storey building with basement, 70 apartments, 37 assisted living suites and 116 aged care rooms, indoor pool, hair and beauty salons, a bowling green and movie theatre.
The development was rejected on the grounds it was excessive and detracted from the neighbourhood’s character.
Ryman had touted the $95 million development as being in response to a shortage of retirement living options on the Mornington Peninsula and “conveniently located a short distance from the Bentons Square Shopping Centre, which includes a pharmacy, medical centre, a supermarket and other retail stores”.
Ryman is still battling with council to build a larger retirement centre on the 8.9-hectare site of the former Moondah Estate in Kunyung Road, Mount Eliza.
The New-Zealand company wants to build 181 apartments for independent living, 48 assisted living suites and 82 aged care beds on land that could be rezoned green wedge and protected from development.
Plans for the development have been rejected twice by council and the matter will be decided at VCAT later this year.
First published in the Mornington News – 9 August 2022
