New Zealand retirement village and aged care operator Ryman Healthcare has bought another site in Melbourne, where it plans to build a $165 million retirement village, and sold a nearby site it owned.

Since 2014, Ryman Healthcare has opened five villages in Victoria and has plans for another six.

Ryman Healthcare Australia CEO Cameron Holland said the latest purchase was a 1.8-hectare property on the corner of Moreland and Pascoe Vale roads in Essendon, 10km from Melbourne CBD, and felt it was the perfect site for an integrated retirement village.

The property houses Lionsville Retirement Village, which opened in October 1996, and Essendon Terrace, services provided by the Lions Club of Essendon. Ryman Healthcare’s deal includes a large parcel of unoccupied land for development.

“We’re always eager to work with government agencies or non-profits as we look for sites to develop,” said Mr Holland, who revealed it had sold a development site in Bell Road, Coburg, purchased in 2016.

 “There are a lot of charitable and religious organisations, sports clubs, and education and health providers out there looking to offload some of their portfolio, and we have a strong appetite to buy.”

Ryman Healthcare opened its first village at Wheelers Hill in Melbourne in 2014 and now has more than 900 residents in Victoria. Its other villages are Charles Brownlow in Highton, John Flynn at Burwood East, Weary Dunlop at Wheelers Hill and Nellie Melba at Brandon Park.

New villages under construction are at Ocean Grove and Aberfeldie, with development sites banked at Ringwood East in Melbourne, and Mt Eliza and Mt Martha on the Mornington Peninsula.

Ryman Healthcare has 41 villages across Australia and New Zealand.