The lodge, built by Roger Gilchrist Building Services, provides new recreational facilities and social opportunities for Observatory residents.
About 200 people, including residents, staff and development contractors, attended the formal opening on Wednesday of the new $3.5million facility.
It includes a treatment salon, hobbies and spa rooms, and a gym.
Observatory Lifecare manager Katrina Holywell said the facilities would complement further villas and apartments to be built in the next two years.
The residents are keen to try the new offerings on site.
"They are excited and looking forward to some new opportunities, different things that we haven’t been able to offer on site.
"We’ve got multifunction rooms, we’ve got tai chi instructors. I did a village resident survey and they like getting into more crafts and hobbies, so we’ve got a hobbies room where they could paint and things they might not have done for years," Mrs Holywell said.
They had also expressed interest in communal gardening and for opportunities to take up new interests or to revist past pursuits.
Those aspects, including a bowling green, a petanque area and the communal vegetable garden, were to be completed.
Mrs Holywell paid tribute to the building team, project manager Michael Forgie and interior designer Annabel Berry for creating a nice environment.
Resident Rosemary Johnston said the lodge looked good.
"I’m looking forward to trying new things. I’ll have to test them all out and decide which I like best," Mrs Johnston said.
Observatory board chair Peter Robinson said they were extremely grateful for a large donation from Ian and Gloria Hurst.
The husband and wife team officially opened the lodge on Wednesday afternoon after a blessing from iwi.
