Summerset gets okay for Hobsonville site

Expanding NZX-listed retirement village owner and operator Summerset Group has approval to buy a large Hobsonville site where it will spend $80 million building about 300 units.

Chief executive Norah Barlow said Overseas Investment Office consent had been granted to buy the 7.6ha Monterey Park which would allow Summerset to expand in Auckland where it sees the biggest growth.

The site was home to Monterey Park Motor Museum and Model World and is opposite the 167ha Hobsonville Point residential development, a Housing New Zealand subsidiary project.

Summerset sees big potential in the northwestern area of the North Shore. Its new village is to have hospital-level care and resthome facilities alongside independent apartments and villas.

Hobsonville will take about seven years to complete and the $80 million will come from Summerset's bank-approved development facility.

It is developing five villages and has a target of building 155 units this financial year.

The company has a land bank which would allow it to develop 1052 units on brownfield and greenfield sites with land at Karaka in South Auckland and Katikati in the Bay of Plenty.

Summerset says it has an additional development pipeline of more than 240 care beds across existing sites and a target of delivering 250 retirement units annually during the next five years.

The business has 14 operating villages catering for around 2000 residents.