A vacant plot of land in Fyansford, a township on the western edge of Geelong, is earmarked for an estimated $65 million retirement village as developers continue to target this area of the Victorian peninsula.

The planning application submitted to the City of Greater Geelong proposes 153 single storey dwellings (mostly two-bedroom, with four three-bedroom homes) to facilitate “housing diversity and affordability”.

Also included are visitor car parks, a community centre, bowling green, and communal garden.

The village, if approved, is to be known as Zest Living. The applicant for the planning permit is listed as MNL Operations.

Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula is a honeypot for operators.

Stockland, which announced its move into the land lease sector in 2019, paid $18 million last September for a 12.7ha block in Armstrong Creek for an over-50s land lease community of 250 homes. In May, it paid about $60 million for a 26.12ha farm at Curlewis, another Geelong suburb, for a 325-home land lease community and 100 properties in a residential housing estate.

Lifestyle Communities has five land lease communities Geelong, Mount Duneed, Ocean Grove, St Leonard’s and Bellarine, with only seven homes for sale in total at time of writing. Pinnacle Living’s Bellarine Springs is currently building Stage 7 and there’s Aveo Freedom Geelong, Australian Unity’s Geelong Grove Retirement Village, Mercy Place Rice Village and Ryman Healthcare’s Charles Brownlow Retirement Village is in Highton.