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GemLife Pacific Paradise is a new over 50’s estate located on the Sunshine Coast. As the moniker suggests, it is designed for over-50’s downsizers and retirees. Pacific Paradise is a house and land project which Gemlife call a resort as it includes a vast array of additional facilities for use by the owners/residents. The Resort offers a wide variety of home designs and floorplan layouts, all having three-bedroom houses, plus many with MPR (multipurpose room), an office, more storage — the options go on. Priced from $585,000, GemLife Pacific Paradise is for downsizers and retirees who want luxury close to the beach and the centre of all the action on the Sunshine Coast.
Some will call it a retirement village and you certainly buy a home in this project and stay in it until you move to a high care facility (eg nursing home), but ‘retirement home’ perhaps has connotations that just don’t sit well with us when we are describing this project. As Gemlife says, it is more ‘resort’ and less ‘retirement village’ for sure, but we talk more about this below.
Projects Facts:
GemLife Pacific Paradise is a new resort/retirement village which the developer Gemlife says “focuses on creating a community where residents can form strong friendships and enjoy life”. The pet-friendly development is designed for the over-50’s community, with a focus on downsizers and retirees who are looking for a home in which they can “age in place”. This means that residents can live in the gated community until the point where they have to move into the hospital or alternative high care facility.
The three-bedroom houses have all been designed to be functional whilst still retaining a sense of luxury. Spread across only one level, the houses all have three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and space for extra storage. The third bedroom can be repurposed as an additional media room or study. There are also two spaces for parking inside the garage. If you think that a modern resort retirement village resembles the type you may have visited with your grandparents decades ago, it is time to take a new look! These homes bear almost no resemblance with the small and tired ‘boxes’ that unfortunately was the norm in the past. All of the homes also include modern and luxury features such as integrated surround-sound systems, security alarm systems, SecureView screens on all doors and windows, solar PV panels, and new tech features such as number plate recognition at the front entrance.
Again unlike the older traditional retirement village model, GemLife does not charge entry or exit fees, providing financial transparency and certainty for home buyers. There is also no stamp duty, and homeowners also retain 100% of capital gains when they come to sell. Essentially, this gives residents and their children far more financial freedom when it does come time to sell and will ensure that buyers and their descendants don’t become embroiled in the DMF (deferred management fee) scandals that have become very public recently.
There are not currently display homes for GemLife Pacific Paradise, but you can view other GemLife projects by making an appointment. The display homes are expected to open in early 2020.
The sales centre is officially open as of the 18th of October. It includes a fully experiential selections room where people can see and/or touch finishings and fixtures, colour selection options, and get a sense of the look and feel of the homes. It also features a display kitchen which is representative of what buyers can expect within the Pacific Paradise resort.
Construction is set to begin in October for GemLife Pacific Paradise, with the first residents expected to move in early-2020.
GemLife Pacific Paradise is located at 26-40 Menzies Drive, Pacific Paradise. A few minutes away from the Sunshine Coast Aiport, this retirement estate is close to a number of restaurants, cafes and stores. There is a Coles around the corner on David Low Way, and further down the road, a health club. As many buyers in over 50’s resorts still work full or part-time, easy access to the Sunshine Coast Airport is a big plus as it provides multiple daily services to Sydney and Melbourne.
The retirement estate can be accessed via North Shore Connection Road, which will bring you directly to the Sunshine Coast Motorway, allowing residents to get to whatever they need on the Sunshine Coast easily. Maroochydore is 10 minutes drive away, as is Mudjimba Beach and the North Shore Medical Centre and the North Shore Village. Coolum Beach is 15 minutes drive away.
Residents have access to a truly impressive number of amenities. There’s everything from a gym to a golf simulator, to a bocce court and art studio in the two-storey central country club. This area is designed to be the community hub, making a safe and fun space for residents to catch up and enjoy themselves. All of the amenities on offer were specifically chosen to help do this, with a focus on facilities that offer engaged living in the long-term.
Now let’s talk facilities. Many modern-day projects have a lot of great amenity for owners, but very few come close to the array that Gemlife offer at Pacific Paradise. Residents have access to a gym, outdoor pool and spa, golf simulator, sauna, hairdressing salon and beauty parlour, ten-pin bowling alley, tennis court, indoor bowling green, bocce court, pickleball court, cinema, library, art studio, an outdoor yoga studio, music room, boardroom, games and entertainment room, grand ballroom, commercial-grade kitchen, health clinic, bar and coffee lounge, theatre and dressing room, BBQ facilities and a wine room.
That is an amazing list of 27 amenities! I recommend reading that list again just to be sure you didn’t miss anything.
Buyers also get to use the estate shuttle bus and buggy.
All of the houses at GemLife Pacific Paradise are three-bedroom, with floor plans ranging between 190.48 m² to 221.51 m² in size. All of the houses have two bathrooms and two car parks, along with a BBQ area and extra storage.
The colour palette of GemLife Pacific Paradise is very light and neutral to allow residents’ personal touches to shine through.
There are a number of interesting features in the home designs. A feature we like is the entrance areas, which help to give residents not only a visual reminder that they are home, but a place to keep all of their coats, muddy shoes, and bags. All of the main living areas have 2.7-metre high ceilings, which is slightly more than average. Ducted air-conditioning comes standard, as does a high-quality carpet in the bedrooms. The kitchen is designed to be both functional and great for entertaining, with the island bench connecting the space to the open-plan living and dining areas, and a butlers pantry off to the side (a great feature!). There is also a separate laundry area which is large enough to be functional.
The separation of bedrooms is another nice feature. Even though these homes are targeted at over 50’s, the 2 spare rooms are quite separate and will function very well for grandchildren and guests as there is a natural divide from the living spaces
All of the houses are completed with neutral interior finishes in white, grey or brown. This allows the homes to diffuse light throughout (especially given the 2.7-metre-high ceilings), and allows buyers to decorate so their homes reflect them and what they love.
In the kitchens, all the appliances are Smeg, and there is special MultiTap 3N1 that gives instant hot and room temperature filtered water. All of the appliances are stainless steel, as is the sink and the MultiTap. The kitchen benches are 20mm stone (with 40mm edges). Depending on the interior colour scheme chosen, the kitchen will have either a stone, glass or ceramic tile splashback.
As mentioned above, each of the houses come with integrated comfort and security features, like surround-sound music systems and SecureView screens on all doors and windows. They also have 3kw solar PV panels, an inclusion that will help residents keep down the power bills and help the environment.
GemLife Pacific Paradise has been created with owner-occupiers in mind, and as such is not to be considered for investment purposes.
GemLife Pacific Paradise is a new project by GemLife, a new Australian developer who focuses on over-50s living. They have a number of projects throughout Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria.
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