Retirement village owner Arvida officially opened its Queenstown Country Club care suites yesterday afternoon, three and a-half years after the $40 million-plus project was announced.
The development, between the retirement village and Kawarau Park, off Ladies Mile, comprises 52 care suites at rest-home or hospital-level care, 10 specialised dementia suites and 29 apartments, some of which are still under construction.
The care suites, grouped into micro-communities called "households", are all standard, premium or deluxe, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, the latter being top-floor penthouses.
Each suite includes cooking facilities — from a small kitchenette to a fully equipped kitchen — while there are also shared dining rooms and lounges, with additional cooking facilities, on each floor.
"Wellness partners", or caregivers, supporting each household were consistent, so residents would see the same faces every day, Arvida chief executive Jeremy Nicoll said.
All units were sold under "occupation right" agreements, but 35 residents from Arvida’s former Lake Wakatipu Care Centre, which occupied a wing at Lakes District Hospital, were transferred to the new facility last September.
At present, the new centre was about 83% full, while Arvida was gradually working towards reaching its full staffing level of about 45 people.
The care suites were the first of their kind in the region and would be a "wonderful option" for residents, and were "a little bit of a step up" from the Lake Wakatipu Care Centre, Mr Nicoll said.
"The team that we’ve had in place at Lake Wakatipu over the last few years has done a wonderful job for us, and we’re super-thrilled that we can bring them into a purpose-built building for the work that they do, which is so valuable to the older New Zealanders in our community."
Built by Armitage Williams, supplemented by Arvida’s own team, the 9000sqm building, built to a Homestar 6 rating, had been designed to maximise the views while being environmentally friendly and thermally efficient.
Mr Nicoll said while the end result was "reminiscent of a luxury lodge", there were additional amenities such as a cafe, apartment lounge, gym, library, commercial kitchens and laundries.
"I know there’s going to be many, many residents who enjoy the amenity and the lifestyle options that we’ve now created in this beautiful retirement community here in Queenstown."
