Revera Living's The Renoir in Newmarket, Ont. The retirement home operator is teaming up with SmartCentres to build similar projects in shopping centres in Oakville and Vaughan.In the era of Amazon, a growing number of shopping malls built in the pre-e-commerce era are definitely showing their age.
Mississauga-based Revera, a privately held firm that owns or operates more than 500 properties across Canada, the United States and Britain, has been on an acquisition spree in the past four years, and has been looking for a large real estate partner with access to land and the chops to steer development applications. “Revera is looking at what it’s good at and what it’s not good at,” chief executive officer Thomas Wellner says. “We wanted complementary skills and capabilities.
“There’s a lot of change in this sector,” says architect Phil Goodfellow, a partner a G architects, which is active in this field. Adds Matt Gavin, also a G architects partner, “The coming `gray wave’ is very different from postwar seniors.” Such complexes are also being equipped with a range of tech-oriented features, from virtual reality golf and video-gaming facilities to theatres, big screen TVs and broadband WiFi. Mr. Wellner points out that Revera recently earmarked $20-million for anthat uses the company’s facilities to pilot emerging technologies geared at older people.
The land, he says, is serviced, convenient for visitors but also provides easy access for the occupants of these new retirement homes. He adds that SmartCentres will be looking at the retail mix on these sites with an eye to bringing in tenants that cater to seniors apartments.
Very smart, this is where I would live when I am retired.