KEY POINTS:
Auckland project design company Lifecare Solutions is planning what it claims will be the country's first resort-style residential development for older New Zealanders, but does not want to call it a retirement village.
The Nelson development will have a health spa, beauty salon, lap pool, golf putting greens, cinema, and convenience store.
Director John Ward said a lot of people didn't want to compromise on their living standards, and required "more than just a nice place to spend their days".
The 241-unit development is targeted at people aged 55 and over but the company said it did not want to use the term "retirement village" because many residents would not be retired. It will be marketed as a "lifestyle development" instead.
Still to be named, the development will consist mainly of single-level villas, but also have 70 apartments and an 18-bed residential care facility. Prices for units will range between $299,000 and $875,000.
Lifecare Solutions is also working on a feasibility study and the design of another 244-apartment lifestyle development at Albany on Auckland's North Shore, near where developer Symphony Group is planning a $500 million residential and retail complex called Albany City.
The apartment development, still to get resource consent, will be housed over six levels in four towers on a 12,700 sq m site.
The company is also working on a $65 million retirement village in Gisborne. The 174-unit complex is on a 10ha site and will include intensive landscaping and walking tracks.
Meanwhile, developer Top Village Developments is building a 100-unit retirement village on a 4ha site in Pukekohe, south of Auckland. Each unit in the $33 million Parkview Estate development would cost between $350,000 and $400,000, said executive director Eugene Lee.
About 25,000 people live in just over 300 retirement villages. Statistics New Zealand estimates that the number of people aged over 65 will grow by about 100,000 to reach 566,000 by 2011.
By 2051 there will be 1.2 million people aged over 65, accounting for about one-quarter of the population.
LIFECARE SOLUTIONS
* Developments in Nelson, Albany, Gisborne
* Country's first resort-style complex for people aged over 55 will be in Nelson
* 244-unit lifestyle development at Albany
* 25,000 people live in retirement villages
* 300 retirement villages in New Zealand
