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A $100 million-plus retirement and aged care facility is set to be built by private developers on the site of a former Tauranga City Council elder housing village.
The proposal has been described as "good news" by the local ratepayers' association president and one that is "closely aligned" with thecouncil's strategic objectives for the property.
The facility is planned for the former Pitau Rd elder housing village site after the council commissioners decided last year to sell it to private developers.
It would provide more than 80 care and dementia beds and more than 100 independent retirement apartments, and would be built by 2026.
Sanderson Group is behind the new development, and it has also developed Bethlehem Country Club, Bethlehem Shores and Ōmokoroa Country Estate. The group is also planning the recently launched $280m Ōmokoroa Country Club.
Tauranga City Council confirmed the conditional sale of the site to Sanderson Group.
An illustration of the proposed facility. Photo / Supplied
Sanderson Group chief executive Jared Baronian said it would be a medium-density, multi-level development with independent retirement living and care/hospital beds.
Construction costs would be more than $100m at project completion, he said.
Baronian said the next step was getting resource and building consent, which would take one to two years.
"Following that, there's up to a two-year build process."
Asked how many jobs this could create, Baronian anticipated there would be 100 to 150 people working onsite each day at peak construction time, but this could possibly rise to 200.
Baronian said there was a lack of aged care facilities in Mount Maunganui due to a shortage of large sites suitable for development.
Tauranga City Council confirmed the conditional sale of the site to the Sanderson Group. Photo / Mead Norton
"When we think about the demand in terms of the aged population 70 years and over doubling over the next 20 years, just that demographic change alone is quite significant.
"The industry as a whole needs to gear up to address this challenge because the challenge is only getting greater."
Baronian said the location was close to public transport and amenities in the Mount Maunganui town centre.
"It's easily accessed by a number of different roads coming in and it's also an area where local retirees can sort of remain in their existing community where they may have spent or lived large portions of their life."
Tauranga City Council commission chairwoman Anne Tolley said Sanderson Group had previously presented its ambitions for the site through a long-term plan submission.
Its plans were "closely aligned" with the council's strategic objectives for the property, in providing a "high-quality, medium-density housing development" and much-needed residential elderly care beds for Tauranga.
Tauranga City Council commission chairwoman Anne Tolley. Photo / Mead Norton
"A key consideration was that the sale also achieves the full market value of this strategic property and the purchase price agreed achieves our high-end expectations."
The purchase price would remain confidential until the sale was unconditional, she said.
Tolley said the provision of independent retirement apartments and beds would help meet the need for more aged care facilities in Tauranga.
"This development will also contribute to the city's general housing needs by releasing more than 100 existing homes to the property market, as people move into the new facility."
Retirement Villages Association executive director John Collyns said the retirement village industry was always looking for suitable sites and Tauranga was a "popular place" for retirees.
About 30 per cent of the 75-years-plus population in Tauranga lived in a retirement village, he said. According to the 2018 census, 18.7 per cent or about 25, 565 of the 136,713 people in Tauranga city were aged 75-plus.
"We know that Tauranga has great health and hospital facilities, it's got a good climate, there's lots of things to do, there's accessibility to Auckland and Hamilton ... and those are all reasons why people want to come to Tauranga."
Mount Maunganui Ratepayers, Residents and Retailers president Michael O'Neill said the proposed development was "good news".
Mount Maunganui Ratepayers, Residents and Retailers president Michael O'Neill. Photo / George Novak
"People like to retire here – it's a fabulous place and there'll be plenty of people putting their hands up.
"It's such a sustainable location ... they can walk downtown, they can walk to coffee shops. All the medical facilities are just right on hand."
O'Neill said the former elder housing village sites were "certainly well past their use-by date".
"For it to be returned to an aged care facility which was its original intention ... is a very good outcome."
Priority One chief executive Nigel Tutt said it was an "excellent" proposal.
"Tauranga is a city that is short on housing - anything that can take a piece of valuable land and dramatically improve the amount of dwellings on it is a good thing."
At the time, Commissioner Stephen Selwood said it was a "very positive decision" and was "consistent with the submissions we've had".
"This is an opportunity to maximise value out of land the council owns to provide maximum advantage to those in need from [an] elderly or a social community housing perspective. Were we not to sell this property, we'd be disadvantaging significant proportions of our community."
