Sean Howard’s Arton Retirement Villages has submitted plans for 13 buildings to be built on a 3 hectare site at Wallsend, a fringe industrial suburb of Newcastle, north of Sydney.

It will comprise two three-storey, seven four-storey and four five-storey buildings with the configuration of 39 one-bedroom, 176 two-bedroom and 15 three-bedroom apartments.

Melbourne-based Arton also has three other villages, Jenny McLeod Retirement Village also in Wallsend, Kewara in Queensland and Cumberland View in Victoria.

Sean Howard was one of the founders of OzEmail with Malcolm Turnbull being an early investor. It was sold in 1999 for $520 million.