A Melbourne council is pushing to acquire a vacant site from the cash-strapped Labor government, to expand a park and kindergarten.

A first right of refusal process has begun for the City of Yarra to buy the ex-Riverside House, on 5144 square metres at 2 River Street, Richmond.

Based on the recent sale of 43-67 River St – $55 million for a 1.04ha parcel also with direct Yarra River access – #2 could be worth c$25m.

Like many councils, Yarra maintains an open space reserve, funded by contributions from developers subdividing land, which can be used to acquire and improve parks and recreation areas.

Nine months ago realestatesource.com.au reported it paid another government arm, VicTrack, $3.4m for a 1524 sqm road in the suburb, the corner of Wangaratta and Stewart streets, to extend a park.

In April, Whitehorse City Council outlaid $5.8m for adjoining dwellings – also to create an open-space – while the City of Geelong sold a KFC investment.

The Merri-bek City Council also offered a Pascoe Vale South site– two years after paying $17.7m  and slicing a section for a park.

Last month we reported the Maribyrnong City Council bought an ex-Masonic Centre in Yarraville Village, to repurpose for community use.

Park plan

2 River St was before 2020 occupied by Riverside House, a 30-bed psychogeriatric aged-care facility operated by St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne.

Yarra plans to use about 4000 to extend Annettes Place, a dog park with a playground with Yarra River frontage (continues below).

The balance of the block will be used to expand the Yarraberg Children’s Centre to allow for up to 50 more places.

This pocket of Richmond is about five kilometres from the CBD, at the Hawthorn border.

Valuable site

Under an earlier proposal, the council sought $5m in state funding to expand the kindergarten and $3m to establish the open space and recreation facilities.

The Department of Treasury and Finance’s September 22 decision to declare the property surplus has triggered the next stage of the disposal process.

Agency sources say the site could deliver the cash-strapped government closer to $30m on the open-market if offered with a commitment the land would be rezoned for apartments.

The council is asking the government to pause it while the two parties discuss reserving the land for community use.

Any deal would come a month since realestatesource.com.au reported the state government sold Sunbury blocks to producers of TV show The Block for $1m, considered a particularly low price for the circa two hectares.

In August, Labor sold the CBD’s State Public Offices for c$20m to a student accommodation developer.

Subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of this page.

For Purpose Aged Care Australia has bought a seven-year-old but never occupied facility on Melbourne’s outskirts.

The 1.55 hectare property, 2-4 William Street, Wallan, cost $34 million.

Over two levels, with 89 beds and parking, it was completed as a turnkey opportunity seven years ago.

Anthony Sambuco through B.D.C Properties was the developer.

It and the garden have been maintained.

For Purpose has branded it Wallan Community Aged Care.

The not-for-profit used four months prior to taking ownership in September to staff the facility and establish clinical government arrangements.

The home also includes private rooms with ensuites, landscaped courtyards, a cafe, hair salon, medical consulting room and a secure dementia-support area.

Wallan is about 45 kilometres north of Melbourne’s CBD (continues below).

Institutional backing

The not-for-profit was established by For Purpose Investment Partners, a social impact investment manager (also not-for-profit) focused on health, education and social welfare.

The aged-care platform received institutional investment commitments of $75m from Qantas Super and $30m from Australian Ethical Investment to support its acquisition of Signature Care in 2024.

In February 2026, For Purpose Investment Partners and For Purpose Aged Care Australia secured a $235m social loan backed by Bank Australia, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and National Australia Bank to support the operator’s expansion.

The group operates c2150 residential aged-care beds nationally with 600 in the pipeline.

Wallan is part of a broader expansion. More facilities are planned in Victoria, where it is headquartered (in Cheltenham) and interstate.

Subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of this page.

A purpose-built medical centre in Melbourne’s northern growth corridor has been listed for sale by receivers, with a month-to-month tenancy leaving its next use open.

1 Laurimar Boulevard, Doreen, occupies a 1052 square metre site also exposed to Hazelton Drive and Barr Lane – all up with 98 metres frontage.

Built in 2018 the complex contains 680 square metres over two two-levels, with a stretcher lift, staff amenities and 21 car parks.

The property was previously occupied as a paediatric specialist centre, with consulting and treatment rooms, reception and waiting areas.

More than five years ago it was a vet, with areas fit out for X-rays and pathology services.

That complex also included a pet grooming facility and store.

The Asset Restructuring Group is selling the property as receivers and managers.

CBRE’s Sandro Peluso, Nathan Mufale and Scott Hawthorne are the agents.

Medical catchment

The Woolworths-anchored Laurimar Town Centre is about 200 metres from 1 Laurimar Blvd (continues below).

Mernda train station is about 2.8 kilometres away.

Doreen had 27,122 residents at the 2021 Census, with children aged five to 14 accounting for about 18 per cent of its population, compared with 12pc across Victoria, Mr Peluso said.

The area’s family demographic could support demand for general practice, paediatrics and allied health services, according to the executive.

Alternatively the property could be reused as a vet or repurposed for another essential service-backed business, like a childcare centre.

Mr Mufale addeed the property is highly exposed.

“For purchasers seeking healthcare accommodation in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, the existing configuration offers flexibility for a range of medical and allied health uses, subject to the necessary approvals,” he said.

Doreen is about 29 kilometres north-east of town.

Subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of this page.

A purpose-built medical centre 210 kilometres west of Brisbane has sold for $10.8 million – a 7.3 per cent yield.

The 10-year-old Ochre Medical Centre contains 1676 square metres leased to six businesses including pathology and diagnostic imaging providers and a GP.

The site spans 4839 sqm with 195 metres street frontage, and 70 car parks.

The Woolworths-anchored Dalby Shoppingworld is about 200m away.

Dalby Hospital is about 1.5 kilometres away

Ochre Medical Centre

The Ochre Medical Centre at 37-41 North Street is the only full-service private medical facility within an hour’s drive of Dalby.

Ochre Health is the anchor on a lease expiring in five years (continues below).

Leases include fixed annual rent reviews linked to CPI plus one-per-cent.

Tenants pay all outgoings including land tax.

“Healthcare is one of the most essential services in regional Australia and investors are recognising the importance of the assets that provide them, demonstrated by the depth of offers received,” Stonebridge Property Group’s Thomas Proberts, who brokered the deal with Tom Moreland, Harrison Coburn and James Fremantle, said.

The deal comes two months since realestatesource.com.au reported Zerra applied to develop a landmark data centre campus, 37 kilometres north-west of Dalby.

Three months ago, a Hungry Jack’s investment in central Dalby traded for $6.2m, a 4.74pc yield.

Meanwhile in June, fund manager Deltine acquired the city’s Drovers Motor Inn, the largest motel in the Western Downs and the only one with a conference centre.

Subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of this page.

Opal HealthCare has taken over a family-owned aged-care home in Sydney’s west.

The Canberra Nursing Home, operated through Clendon Care, actually in Lidcombe, 400 metres from the train station – was yesterday rebranded Lidcombe Place Aged Care.

It is approved for 70 beds across two sections – The Canberra, with 38 beds, and Roveen Station (32) – but was marketed as having 66.

The site, 21 Mary Street, also covering 23-25, spans 2248 square metres.

Lidcombe is 18 kilometres from town.

Opal portfolio approaches 150

Opal HealthCare, headquartered in Sydney, is owned equally by Australian private equity firm Pacific Equity Partners and Singapore-listed investment group G.K. Goh Holdings.

The group operates aged-care homes nationally and has expanded through acquisitions, including homes previously run by smaller family-owned and independent operators.

The portfolio contains nearly 150 care communities nationally.

It also holds a development pipeline in Brisbane and Sydney.

The Lidcombe deal comes seven months since Opal acquired the 90-bed Greenwich Place home in Sydney and Bethel Aged Care in Melbourne’s north Mill Park (continues below).

The Anzac Lodge, 16 kilometres from the Bethel, at Coburg North, settled in July.

These three facilities contain a total 242 beds.

The vendor entities for the Melbourne homes were Java Dale and Bethel Amen.

Last year, Opal bought five homes from Sydney operator Cranbrook Care and three Victorian homes from Australian Aged Care Group.

Opal also completed its acquisition of Victorian provider BlueCross in July 2024, with 31 residential homes.

“Nearly a year on from the 1 November 2025 aged care reforms, this transaction shows that well-run, family-owned homes in strong metropolitan catchments continue to attract serious interest from the sector’s leading operators, ACSL Property’s Shane Nicholson, who marketed 21 Mary St, said.

“The facility enjoys a long-standing reputation in the local community and offers the incoming operator a solid platform for further investment in capability and growth,” according to the executive.

“The aged care sector continues to consolidate, underpinned by rising occupancy, strong demographic demand and sustained investment appetite from established and emerging operators,” he added.

Subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of this page.

A particularly securely leased strata-titled Northern Beaches hospital has traded between major fund managers, for healthcare trusts.

RAM Asset Management paid $39.5 million for the Arcadia Pittwater Private Hospital, at Warriewood.

Part of a five-level complex at 4 Daydream Street, the 85-bed sub-acute rehabilitation hospital, with 5025 square metres, will be held by the RAM Australia Opportunity Fund (HOF).

Dexus was the vendor.

It paid $50.5m in 2021 on behalf of the Healthcare Property Fund.

That seller was Breckenridge Funds Management, which developed the facility in 2018.

The deal comes two weeks since realestatesource.com.au reported Dexus, for the same trust, sold the Noosaville Medical and Professional Centre to Westbridge Funds Management and Shore Invest.

Arcadia Pittwater Private Hospital

Leased to Arcadia Health Care on a lease expiring in 2051, Arcadia Pittwater collects $2.59m annual net rent.

Two kilometres from Mona Vale Hospital, the property provides rehabilitation for patients recovering from surgery, illness or injury, with consulting suites, physiotherapy space and a hydrotherapy pool (continues below).

The $39.5m sale price reflects a 6.6 per cent yield.

It is the fourth asset for the open-ended HOF, which RAM says has a total fund value of about $250m.

The fund invests in healthcare property through acquisitions, repositioning and development, working with operators on existing and new facilities.

Last October, it bought a St Leonards healthcare property for $56m.

In 2024, it acquired a development site at Cleveland, Brisbane, for $6.5m, where it has since developed a medical hub anchored by Ramsay Health Care.

It also acquired a 20pc stake in Brisbane’s Nundah Medical Hub, following the $51.25m purchase of the property not long earlier.

RAM’s founders hold a further 5pc, with the remainder owned by a South-East Asian sovereign wealth fund.

Subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of this page.

Australia’s ageing population is creating a growing gap between the federal government’s commitments to fund healthcare and social services and its ability to provide the real estate to deliver those services.

That is creating a larger role for private capital in healthcare, aged care and childcare property, according to speakers at a CBRE event in Melbourne today.

“Governments will keep paying for the care…they can’t pay for all the buildings as well…that’s the gap private capital is being asked to fill,” CBRE Australian Healthcare & Social Infrastructure national director Sandro Peluso said.

But the expanding demand for healthcare and social infrastructure is not translating into a broad-based investment rush, with capital becoming increasingly selective about the assets and operators it backs.

“Capital is deep but it is highly selective…investors are looking beyond the lease to the quality of the operator, the underlying demographics and the long-term sustainability of the asset,” Mr Peluso added.

More than 500 investors, operators, government representatives, developers and property professionals attended CBRE’s The Impact of Healthcare and Social Infrastructure at Crown Palladium on Wednesday.

Demographics set the demand

The presentation coincided with the recent release of the federal government’s 2026 Intergenerational Report, which projects the number of Australians aged 85 and over will triple by 2065-66.

It also forecasts federal government health spending will rise from 4 per cent of GDP in 2025-26 to 6.2pc by 2065-66, while aged-care spending is projected to increase from 1.5pc to 2.3pc of GDP.

Business and finance commentator David Koch, who delivered the keynote address, said the demographic outlook provided an unusually clear view of future demand.

“Demographics are about as close to a sure thing as economics gets,” according to the broadcaster.

“We already know how many 85-year olds we’ll have in 2036 because they’re 75 today,” he added.

The Intergenerational Report projects Australia will have 39.3 million people by 2065-66, but with deaths expected to outnumber births from the 2060s as fertility declines.

Mr Koch said a challenge was whether the infrastructure and workforce would be available to service the ageing population.

“The only question is whether the beds, the carers and the money will be there when they need them,” he added.

Aged care needs a new home every three days

The scale of the aged-care requirement is already being reflected in government forecasts.

Mr Koch quoted Department of Health research that Australia needs to open a new aged-care facility every three days for the next 20 years, equivalent to about 10,500 additional beds a year.

For property investors, however, demographic demand does not automatically make every healthcare or social infrastructure asset investable.

“Capital is deep but it is highly selective,” Mr Peluso said.

“Investors are looking beyond the lease to the quality of the operator, the underlying demographics and the long-term sustainability of the asset,” he added (continues below).

The distinction was explored in a panel moderated by journalist Jacqui Felgate, featuring Victorian Health Building Authority chief executive Priscilla Radice, Barwon Investment Partners managing director Tom Patrick and Regis chief executive Georgia Willis.

Ms Radice outlined the Victorian government’s pipeline of hospital projects, including the recently completed Footscray Hospital and projects under construction or delivery elsewhere in the state.

Mr Patrick said there was scope for more private-sector partnerships involving smaller healthcare properties rather than concentrating investment around major hospitals.

He also pointed to difficulties in attracting medical practitioners to some locations, with doctors and specialists often wanting to work close to established employment and residential centres.

The availability of healthcare real estate therefore depends on more than the underlying population in a catchment.

CBRE Australian Healthcare & Social Infrastructure director Marcello Caspani-Muto said demographic demand was also uneven within individual markets, using childcare as an example.

He said some areas could have more childcare centres than others despite having less underlying demand, illustrating the importance of matching supply to local demographics rather than relying on broad population growth.

Aged care is not retirement living

The aged-care market presents a different property requirement, according to Ms Willis, who said facilities needed to be designed around how older Australians live and receive care, rather than simply providing accommodation.

Residential aged care and retirement living also serve different markets, with aged care designed around residents requiring higher levels of support while retirement living is generally aimed at more independent residents.

The distinction is becoming more important as government policy shifts more care into people’s homes while demand for residential aged care continues to rise.

Mr Peluso said investors were increasingly assessing healthcare and social infrastructure through both property and operating lenses.

“The strongest healthcare and social infrastructure assets are increasingly being assessed on both their property fundamentals and the sustainability of the underlying service and operator,” he added.

The investment requirement extends beyond aged care, according to the executive.

Australia’s healthcare and social assistance sector already employs about 2.4m people, or 16pc of the workforce, making it the country’s largest employing industry, according to the Intergenerational Report.

The report also forecasts health and aged-care demand to rise as Australians live longer, with ageing accounting for about one-third of the projected increase in health spending over the next 40 years

Mr Peluso said for property owners and investors, that leaves an expanding pool of government-supported service demand but a more selective market for the buildings that accommodate it.

The question is increasingly not simply whether an asset has a healthcare or social infrastructure tenant, but whether the operator, location, demographics and building remain viable over the life of the investment, he added.

Subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of this page.

Thailand-based Supalai has sold an apartment development site in Geelong days after partnering with Mirvac to acquire a low-density residential block in Melbourne.

In a surprise, the property just divested, 1 Harbourside Drive, Rippleside, found favour with an aged-care provider which will repurpose a permitted seven-level project with 136 car parks.

That complex would have contained 83 dwellings, a marina office and commercial tenancy,

The incoming building will accommodate 128 beds.

The purchase price was $8.3 million.

Spanning 3995 square metres, it comprises part of a 2.2 hectare holding, a piece of Balmoral Quay, a residential precinct developed by Supalai and Gersh Investment Partners.

The deal comes less than a week since we reported Nexia Aged Care, led by Anthony Palmieri’s Maiestas Care, bought a Footscray aged care home from Freemasons Victoria.

Prominent site sold

Supalai and Gersh developed the broader Balmoral Quay precinct on the former Rippleside shipyard site (continues below).

1 Harbourside Dve – with its south boundary facing Rippleside Park – was the last undeveloped major block.

The offshore group first entered the project in 2014-15, taking a 50 per cent interest in The Rippleside Development Joint Venture.

Its investment was valued at about $5.9m at December 31, 2015.

In 2020, it paid $13m for the balance

Gersh Investment Partners has represented Supalai in Australia and is the Balmoral Quay development manager.

CBRE’s Marcello Caspani-Muto, Jimmy Tat and Sandro Peluso handled the off-market campaign for 1 Harbourside Dve.

Last month Supalai and Mirvac paid $115m for a 40.9ha parcel adjoining their Smiths Lane estate at Clyde, adding about 3200 potential homes to the broader project.

Subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of this page.

A Brutalist-inspired former library has changed hands for $7.6 million two years since the council sold it for $4m.

The 1813 square metre property at 737 Pascoe Vale Road, Glenroy, has been repurposed as a medical centre and fully let to high-profile tenants on long-term agreements.

Designed by Harry Winbush and completed in 1970, becoming the first purpose-built library in what is now the Merri-bek municipality, it was contested by five suitors at auction in August, 2024.

Adelaide-based Briars Group, led by Nick Loan, won the keys.

The on-sale was brokered off-market.

CBRE’s Justin Kramersh was the agent.

Capital gain

The replacement library is now part of the $30m Glenroy Community Hub on Wheatsheaf Road – the repurposed former Glenroy Primary School site – also with a kindergarten, long day care, maternal and child health services, CoHealth, the Glenroy Neighbourhood Learning Centre, community meeting spaces and a community garden.

The Pascoe Vale Rd one contained 1060 sqm – a portion, including the 45.7 metres street frontage – which is heritage protected.

It also includes 13 car parks (continues below).

Alternative uses during the 2024 were residential-based; the land is zoned Commercial 1.

The medical centre cost a speculated $3m to fit out.

Lumus Imaging and Healius Limited are the occupiers on leases with fixed rent rises between 3-3.5pc.

The weighted average lease expiry is 9.5 years.

The sale price values the land at about $4,200 per sqm.

Glenroy is about 12 kilometres north of Melbourne’s CBD.

Also today realestatesource.com.au is reporting Merri-bek Council will spend $2.6m upgrading the Fawkner Library, part of a brown-brick community hub, near C. B. Smith Reserve.

A new Coburg Library is mooted too – the winner of a design competition announced earlier this year.

Subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of this page.

One of Melbourne’s older suburban libraries, part of a brown-brick civic and community hub, is set for a major revamp – while another will be razed and replaced.

The upgrade of Fawkner Library at 77 Jukes Road will be majority funded by Merri-Bek Council.

The main outlay is expected to be spread in the 2027-28/2028-29 financial years.

Also today we are reporting the first purpose-built library in the municipality, in Glenroy, sold after being repurposed as a medical centre.

That vendor, Adelaide-based Briars Group, bought the Brutalist-inspired and partly heritage-protected former library building, designed by architect Harry Winbush, from Merri-bek Council in August 2024.

Fawkner Library redevelopment

Fawkner Library opened in 1968, part of a community hub precinct beside the C.B. Smith Reserve, with the Fawkner Leisure Centre, senior citizens centre, neighbourhood house and maternal and child health centre.

Part of Merri-bek’s library network, which recorded more than 1.2 million loans of books and electronic resources in 2023-24, it has already undergone several upgrades.

Energy-efficiency works carried out between 2011 and 2013 included new lighting, ceiling insulation and replacement of the original gas-fired heating and cooling plant.

The building also underwent refurbishment works following a council tender in 2016.

The broader C.B. Smith Reserve precinct, with a competition-level soccer pitch, skate park, play spaces and fitness equipment, was revamped in 2024.

The area also contains over 50 car parks.

Council had already committed $1.9m to the library redevelopment – the project has been part of its development pipeline several years. About $700,000 will be via the state government’s Living Libraries Infrastructure Program.

New Coburg Library

Merri-bek is also planning a new Coburg Library as part of a $60m project with a piazza (continues below).

A winning design for the proposed four-storey library by Durbach Block Jaggers with Architecture Associates and Openwork was unveiled in March, following a design competition.

Set to occupy the the north-west corner of Victoria Street and Waterfield Street West, it includes digital learning spaces, as well as facilities for creative and cultural programs.

The piazza, which will span two-thirds of the parcel, is designed with seating, lawn and trees.

Construction is scheduled to start in 2028.

Completion is expected in 2029.

Supermarket-turned-library on the way out

The library and piazza form the first stage of a broader plan to revitalise central Coburg, retaining components of redundant The Coburg Initiative, which grew out of Council’s 2006 Central Coburg 2020 Structure Plan.

Later stages will add c1000 dwellings, offices, retail and six parks.

Road and laneway improvements are planned too.

Some 900 car parks across three addresses are also planned.

The outgoing Coburg Library, which opened in 1983 in a former supermarket, is no longer deemed fit for purpose – smaller than the proposed replacement.

The wider revitalisation is expected to take 10-15 years.

Subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of this page.