$50m retirement village for Wainui
Olive Brown is looking forward to moving into a new $50 million retirement village.
The Masonic Villages Trust yesterday announced it would be building the facility in central Wainuiomata. That is good news for the 75-year-old, who has mobility issues and lives in unsuitable rental accommodation.
‘‘The place I am in is very difficult for me to get in and out of. The rent is quite high as well.’’
It will allow Brown to stay in Wainuiomata, near her children. She hopes that living in a purposebuilt facility will also give her back her independence.
The planned village will house about 200 people in retirement villas, a rest home, hospital beds, care suites and serviced apartments.
Wainuiomata, which has a population of 16,700, has been without rest home facilities for many years.
Labour list MP Ginny Andersen said a retirement village was good news for the area. The 100 jobs it would being were welcome and it would also stop families being split up, when parents were forced to move to Lower Hutt because of the lack of facilities.
Masonic Villages Trust chief executive Warick Dunn said there would be 80 single-storey villas in single, two and three-bedroomed options. The rest home and hospital would provide beds for up to 60 residents and it would become one of the largest employers in the area.
The facility received resource consent last week and Dunn hoped it would open by spring 2019.
The council had been very supportive in making land available and he acknowledged the role played by the mayor.
‘‘I am particularly grateful to mayor Ray Wallace, who has personally championed the village ever since we first became involved.’’
The trust tended to operate in areas commercial rest home providers found uneconomic.
‘‘We believe we perform an important social role by providing quality accommodation and care to older people with a wide range of interests, lifestyles and budgets.
‘‘Our villages tend to be smaller than would be economic for commercial operators. This enables us to support residents of suburbs and provincial towns who wish to retire in a village where they are close to friends and family,’’ Dunn said.
Wainuiomata ward councillor Campbell Barry said it was good news for families and was an acknowledgement of the hard work put in by various community groups and individuals.
‘‘A retirement village has long been needed in Wainuiomata. Families will now be able to stay together. I’m grateful for the advocates in the Wainuiomata community who have been pushing for this, especially groups like Grey Power Wainuiomata.’’
Andersen said she had firsthand experience of how hard it was for older residents who are forced to move away. Her motherin-law had to go to Manor Park every day to visit her husband who was in a dementia unit there.
‘‘She had to catch trains and buses and she gave up visiting in the end because it was all too stressful.’’
The trust was established by the Freemasons in the 1960s to benefit the whole community.
It has villages in Taranaki, Manawatu¯ , Horowhenua, Wairarapa and Lower Hutt. Its most recent development was Woburn Apartments, a boutique retirement community in Lower Hutt, which was completed last year.
"A retirement village has long been needed in Wainuiomata. Families will now be able to stay together." Wainuiomata ward councillor Campbell Barry