Metlifecare’s Somervale retirement village in Mount Maunganui getting makeover

A multimillion-dollar makeover of one of Tauranga’s longest-standing retirement villages will more than triple its accommodation.

Somervale retirement village’s 83 homes will be gradually demolished over several years to make way for 11 two- to
four-storey independent living apartment buildings, as well as a resident amenity building at the Mount Maunganui site.

The council last month issued owner Metlifecare a consent valued at $31m for part of the project. It was one of 135 consents together worth nearly $100m issued by the Tauranga City Council in May.

The Somervale consent was to build a multi-level building with offices and resident amenities on the ground floor and three levels of two- and three-bedroom residential apartments above.

A Metlifecare spokesperson said it was part of a staged regeneration project to modernise the more than 40-year-old village that would increase the number of homes in the village to 266.

Stage 1 would deliver the new amenity building and 30 independent living apartments by late 2024. Five further stages will follow across the next eight years.

The spokesperson said the “exciting” redevelopment project was part of a wider regeneration programme across about 12 of Metlifecare’s older villages in prime locations over the next decade.

It was an important part of the company’s strategic plan and would help house and care for New Zealand’s ageing population.

The Somervale project would add an estimated five jobs to the team of about 100 staff once completed and operational. An estimated 40 full-time equivalent roles would be required throughout the design, consenting and construction process.

The village has held monthly meetings to update its residents on the project and incorporates their feedback where possible. Residents had helped paint the hoardings surrounding generation sites with decorative murals.

An event to bless the site at Somervale was held in August.

Somervale resident Jeanette Andrews, 81, pulled the lever on a 23.5-tonne digger that smashed through the roof of the village’s old care home to mark the start of the project last year.

Andrews, the spokesperson of the village residents’ committee, moved there about nine years ago with her husband.

She said she was excited to move into Stage 1 sometime next year.

“I cannot wait. I am really looking forward to it.”

Andrews said some of the buildings were looking tired and the new village was going to be “absolutely lovely”.

“We have to move to the future. We don’t have some of the modern facilities that others have. This is going to be the place to be I feel.”

Andrews said the Metlifecare team had been “amazing” at updating residents throughout the project.

The council issued building consents valued at $97,729,365 in May. That included 30 residential – and one commercial – consent covering a total of 72 new dwellings together valued at $49,413,526 and 28 commercial consents with a total value of $69,175,139.

Council building services manager Steve Pearce said the volume of building consent applications it had received had “significantly reduced” in the past 12 months.

“In May 2022, we approved 214 building consents compared with only 135 building consents in May 2023,” he said.

“We have seen the biggest decrease in consent applications in the stand-alone single-house consent type, but the more complex townhouse-style and commercial developments have remained comparatively strong.”

But while volumes were down, Pearce said the value of consented building work remained comparatively high as a result of some large developments.

“In particular, May 2023, September 2022, and July 2022 have all been up around $100m, with $97.7m in May 23, $96.9m in September 22 and $102.2m in July 22. In May 2022, we consented $84.4m.”

He said most consents were going out within 14 working days but May was down compared to previous months, with only 65 per cent of consents out within 20 working days.

It comes after two luxury Tauranga retirement villages completed major projects worth a combined $42m. That included the $30m residential aged care centre at Pacific Coast Village in Pāpāmoa and the $12m retirement village clubhouse that once housed the iconic Mills Reef winery building at The Vines at Bethlehem.

Figures from the Retirement Villages Association show 15 of its 35 villages in Tauranga and the Western Bay of Plenty are expanding, adding another 1400 units and bringing an estimated 900 jobs and $119m in direct economic impact to the region.

There were also two consents – one valued at $6m and another at $5m – issued last month for stage one of Pāpāmoa East’s new billion-dollar The Sands Town Centre on Emerald Shores Dr.

The Bay of Plenty Times earlier this month reported a consent valued at $10.5m was issued in April to start construction on the town centre, as well as revealed the latest businesses to join it.

Zoe Hunter is an assistant news director covering business and property news for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She also writes for NZME’s regional business publication Money. Zoe has worked for NZME since 2017.

Top 5 major building consents by value – May 2023

33 Gloucester Rd

Construction of a multi-level building with offices and resident amenities on the ground floor and apartments on the remaining three levels.

$31m

12 Te Kakau Place

Construct of a new workshop and office

$7.5m

45 Emerald Shores Dr

Site-wide works ancillary to Stage 1A of The Sands Town Centre including private infrastructure (3 waters, power, fibre etc), carparking, retaining walls and site features.

$6m

410 Taurikura Dr

New warehouse attached two-storey office

$5.2m

45 Emerald Shores Dr

Basebuild construction of multi-tenant large format retail building, foundations and structure only.

$5m

Source: Tauranga City Council