Our largest village operator is moving into the retirement village sector in China, inking a deal with the Qingpu local government for a 50-year land use contract to build around 900 independent living units and operate them under a long-term agreement.

Lendlease has been operating in China for around 30 years and developed over 300 projects, but this is their first village project.

It is also a first in retirement in that Lendlease doesn’t have a Chinese partner – they will develop and operate it themselves.

As we covered here, Lendlease’s CEO of Asia, Tony Lombardo, has been keen to develop retirement living in the region.

The ex-Group Chief Financial Officer for the company, Tony Lombardo leads the initiative. He is not new to retirement. He joined Lendlease in July 2007 as Group Head of Strategy and Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) and led the acquisition of Babcock & Brown Communities in 2009, previously Primelife and then the largest village operator in Australia.