The nearby Rototuna owned by Summerset. Photo / Summerset Group
Summerset Group has won consent for a new $150 million Cambridge retirement village where the first residents are expected to move by 2023.
More than 400 people will eventually live there.
The business told the NZX today the village will have 260 two and three-bedroom villas and cottages, serviced apartments and care rooms and a dementia care centre.
Aaron Smail, general manager, said earthworks were expected to start this year and the first residents would move in early 2023.
The 8ha site is off Mary Ann Dr via Norfolk Dr, about 2km from the town centre.
"A lot of the new Cambridge village units will be independent living, meaning residents have their own home but extra support is on hand if wanted or needed, all within a safe and secure environment," Smail said.
Summerset has villages at Fitzroy and Rototuna in Hamilton and one in Taupo.
"We're pleased to be developing our fourth village in the region, especially given the number of people aged 75-plus in the Waipa District is forecast to increase by 44 per cent in about the next decade," he said.
Around 200 people will work on the construction site and up to 50 new permanent jobs will be created in the village once it's finished.
A report by Boffa Miskell for Summerset said: "The village will provide accommodation for up to 414 persons plus an allowance for 40 care beds, on the basis that the average independent living unit occupancy is 1.3 persons and the maximum care unit occupancy is 1 person."
The site was within the northern limits of Cambridge and occupied a large area of open
pastureland.
"It is a largely undeveloped tract of land, boarded by a short section of Norfolk Dr to
the south and the Laurent Swale/ Victoria Rd to the west. To the north and the east, the site borders open paddocks, which are anticipated to be developed residentially," Boffa Miskell's report said.
There will be a substantial change in the current character to the site which is anticipated by its underlying residential zoning and which will be broadly consistent with residential development that is continuing to occur in surrounding areas.
"The currently grazed paddocks will be replaced by built urban form. In time, and as development of the broader area accelerates, the character of the area will further change. Based on this, it considered that the effects to landscape character on the surrounding area in light of its anticipated change, is very low," Boffa Miskell's report said.
Not all its plans are popular. The much larger $300m plans at Parnell have got some neighbours worried. Summerset wants to build eight-level blocks for 216 apartments, 100 hospital rooms and 235 parking spaces at 23 and 41 Cheshire St, according to its application.
Graham Roberts, who lives two houses away from the Summerset site, is a member of the Gibraltar Owners Group which wants the company in which he owns shares to engage.
A Summerset spokeswoman said last November that Parnell would be one of its largest projects to date "along with our St Johns village currently under construction on St Johns Rd. A series of six interconnected apartment buildings are proposed, ranging in height from three to eight storeys on the Domain side of the site. The range of heights creates an undulating effect and enriches the views through to the Domain," Summerset said.
A four-level carpark and another single-level parking area are planned, the spokesperson said.
Last month, the Herald reported that Summerset had made $263.8m net profit after tax after a $260m surge in property revaluations.
Net profit after tax turned around from the Covid-hit first half of last year when it recorded a $7.6m loss to this year's first-half $263.8m net profit after tax, although on a normalised basis last year's $7.6m loss became a $1m profit.
The company pushed up revenue 16 per cent from the first half of its year to June 30, 2020 when it made $82m to this year's first half to June 30, 2021 when it made $94.9m.
Total income rose 427 per cent from $67.4m in last year's first half to $355.1m in this year's first half.
Shares are trading around $14.80, up $6.10 or 71 per cent annually, giving a market capitalisation of $3.4b.