The Ryman site in Mount Martha, Victoria - now for sale. Photo / Supplied
The Ryman site in Mount Martha, Victoria - now for sale. Photo / Supplied
New Zealand's largest listed retirement village owner operator has abandoned $95 million plans for a big Australian project in Victoria and is selling the site it bought last decade.
A Ryman Healthcare spokesman today confirmed the company was selling its 1.9ha Mount Martha property.
The property is in a suburbon the popular Mornington Peninsula where many people from Melbourne go to retire or holiday. Bentons Lodge now stands on the site which Colliers and other agents are advertising.
After failing to gain consents to build in the last few years, Ryman decided the project was no longer viable and it put the property up for sale.
Ryman said last decade the area needed its new Mount Martha village built "in response to the shortage of retirement living options on the Mornington Peninsula".
The site to be developed was near the Bentons Square Shopping Centre, it said at the time.
But Mornington Peninsula Shire Council rejected Ryman's application. So did the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
The tribunal said it refused the development primarily because of the overall size of the built form, and access concerns.
The beautiful beach at Mt Eliza, Victoria: Ryman planned to build in this area. Photo / Wikipedia
Ryman had said Mount Martha Village would epitomise the meaning of a full life in retirement.
"You'll gain a lifestyle and a community you can thrive in. And for those local to the area, it's the perfect opportunity to enjoy our village within your local village," Ryman said when marketing Mt Martha.
It established a sales office in Bentons Square, an hour's drive from Melbourne CBD, and said residents in the new village would have the freedom to live the way they wanted.
Marketing was still live on Ryman's website today, despite its decision to quit 180 Bentons Rd.
The planned village was to have a three-level building with a basement, 70 units, 37 assisted living suites and 116 geriatric rooms, indoor pool, hair and beauty salons, bowling green and film theatre.
180 Bentons Rd, Mt Martha, where Ryman once planned to build. Photo / Google
The village would offer a full range of aged-care options, including residential aged care, low care and high care, and specialist dementia care, the company said.
Not far away, Ryman is also still trying to build on the ex-Moondah Estate in Mt Eliza although again, it has run into regulatory approval difficulties.
The Herald reported in January that six years on, the company was still losing the battle to develop its Mt Eliza site, which locals called Reg's Wedge after Sir Reginald Ansett who once owned it.
In 2016, Ryman Healthcare bought the 8.9ha Moondah Estate in Mt Eliza, 45 minutes from Melbourne, indicating the development would mean it would have five villages in Victoria by 2020.
But in the last six years, Ryman has lost every round of the planning battle - and opponents have cited a koala living nearby, growling frogs and ring-tail possums in moves to halt plans.
Two CEOs - Simon Challies and Gordon MacLeod - have come and gone from the company now headed by Richard Umbers. And still, Ryman hasn't begun earthworks on its historic beachfront estate.
Now, environmentalists have dealt it a further blow, this time at a higher state level, meaning its site could become part of a new protected belt.
John Boscawen challenged the Ryman board last month. Photo / Natalie Slade
Last month, ex-MP and long-term Ryman shareholder John Boscawen challenged the board over its reporting at the July 28 AGM and threatened to take matters up with the Financial Markets Authority.
John Boscawen criticised the board about aspects of the 2022 annual report, claiming financial statements were "misleading" in terms of the number of new retirement village units stated as being delivered and what was actually delivered.
He left the meeting dissatisfied and planned to complain to the FMA.
At the Christchurch AGM, he disputed what was listed as being built and delivered or completed and whether that was true.
He cited units without kitchens or bathrooms which he said were listed as being complete but were not.
Director Claire Higgins said the answer was somewhat technical but the audit committee was happy with the numbers reported on.
She told the meeting she'd accompanied auditors on site visits, and accounts appropriately reflected the situation to provide good information to shareholders.
Shares today were trading around $9.39, down from $15.80 a year ago.
