A $35 million Central Otago-owned retirement village project is being proposed for Cromwell.
The proposal is the latest in a recent string of retirement village projects and expansion announcements in Central Otago.
PGG Wrightson real estate branch manager Neil Bulling is leading the Cromwell project, which would include a 94-unit retirement village, and, in time, a dementia care and hospice facility, on land at Cromwell's western edge, between Kawarau Gorge Rd and Iles St.
Mr Bulling said he was confident the project, for which resource consent was still required, would go ahead.
It would provide much-needed facilities for the region's elderly, he said.
The land had been ''secured'' and building was expected to begin March next year.
The stand-alone homes, ranging in cost from $295,000 to $450,000, would be built in various stages on the 7ha site, which would include communal facilities including dining areas, a bar, a workshop, gardens, vegetable plots and a children's playground.
Mr Bulling said many elderly people had been forced to move away from Central Otago due to the lack of facilities in the area, including his own relatives.
''We want to give people the opportunity to stay here and be able to enjoy the magnificent surroundings and climate but to do that you also have to make it affordable.''
A hospital and care facility on an adjoining site, including a specialised dementia unit and hospice ward, was also proposed to service the retirement village, Cromwell and surrounding areas.
The scale of the care unit had not been confirmed and a feasibility study would be undertaken to assess the needs of the area, but it was hoped it would allow couples to stay together if only one required care, he said.
It would also be good news for Cromwell in other ways.
Auckland-based development managers HPA Group Ltd had indicated they would use local businesses, and investors involved in the project were all locally based, Mr Bulling said.
The project is the fifth proposed retirement village development in the region, including planned retirement lifestyle villages in Alexandra and Clyde, and planned expansions of existing retirement villages in Alexandra and Wanaka.
If all come to fruition, they will add a total of 404 units expected to house about 525 people.
Mr Bulling told the Otago Daily Times there would be demand for the Cromwell development because more baby-boomers were entering the market looking for retirement village options.
Central Otago Mayor Tony Lepper was not aware of the project when contacted, but was ''over the moon'' a development like that was planned for Cromwell.
''I am sure that the council will work with any developer to make it happen,'' he said. The dementia care and hospice facilities were an ''absolutely critical component'' lacking in Central Otago.
''No-one likes people having to go out of the district to attain those basics.
''You need someone with money, a lot of foresight and courage, and if someone can do that I'd be rapt,'' Mr Lepper said.
Retirement Villages Association executive director John Collyns said living in a retirement village meant safety and security, companionship, and equity release, and those benefits were becoming much better known to older people.
The proportion of people aged over 70 living in retirement units in New Zealand had increased to 12% by the end of 2014, up from 10.5% in 2013.
In Otago, that figure increased from 6.3% in 2013 to 6.8% in 2014, so there was definitely scope for development in the region, Mr Collyns said.
Statistics from the 2013 census show 21.3% of people in Central Otago are aged 65 years and over, compared with 14.3% of the total New Zealand population.
