Salford sees potential in troubled village
The operator will manage a Melbourne village where work has stalled since the previous owner went into receivership.
Melbourne-based village operator Salford Living has announced that it will manage the half-completed Tarneit Skies Retirement Village in the city’s west.
Building work at the village came to a standstill in March when previous owner, Premier Village Developments went into receivership. Since then residents have been unable to sell their units and have not had any daily maintenance services.
It is the second time that the village has changed hands since development began in 2003.
Salford now runs eight retirement villages throughout Australia. Its decision to take over the management of Tarneit Skies is part of a national growth plan and follows the acquisition of Bellcara Retirement Village on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast last month.
“Since September last year the company has been working on developing a set of appropriate criteria for acquisitions,” said Chief Investment Officer, Justin Cavanagh.
“The philosophy behind those criteria is that any acquisition should satisfy all stakeholder interests, including the shareholders, the staff and the residents. We don’t want to benefit one [group] at the expense of the other.”
He added that the company is cautiously optimistic in the wake of the global economic downturn.
“We have faith in the industry and in the prospects of the industry and we don’t think it has been particularly damaged as a result of the credit crunch,” Mr Cavanagh said.
“Throughout the industry, I think people are acting with a constrained enthusiasm.”
Mr Cavanagh said Tarniet Skies satisfied the group’s investment criteria because it was a modern village and it had room for further development.
The village currently has 92 independent living units (ILUs) and 31 serviced apartments with planning approval for about 30 more ILUs.
Salford is holding meetings with residents to determine the priority areas for immediate development around the village.
“The project was left at a certain point in time and nothing has been done since then,” said Mr Cavanagh.
“Now it is a matter of completing those works in the order of their importance and once that has been bedded down, we have a timetable in mind for further development,” he said.
