Build to Rent goes retail: vibrant living for seniors?

Four years ago, Build to Rent did not exist in Australia. Now JLL predicts there will be 7,000 BTR units by 2024, which outstrips the planned number of planned new retirement living units. In addition, BTR is attractive to potential clients of retirement village operators – look at Mirvac’s LIV Indigo in Sydney with 14% of residents as seniors. We normally see them as multi-storey vertical towers but now The Pellicano Group has been given approval to complete a BTR on top of retail shops. Fieldworks House is the third and final stage of its $250-million mixed-use hub The Links in Oakleigh South, 17km southeast of Melbourne’s CBD. It will add 3000sqm of ground-floor retail and hospitality as well as provision for a second supermarket to join the existing network of retailers, which includes Woolworths, BWS, Bunnings Warehouse, Snap Fitness, Chemist Warehouse and a medical hub, created during the first two stage of the project. To be built above the retail component, Fieldworks House will come under the Pellicano Living banner and comprise 166 apartments in one-, two- and three- bedrooms plus a “signature mix of hotel-style amenities with community-focused living”.