Summerset plans $150M village in first Tauranga foray

Summerset plans $150M village in first Tauranga foray

By Paul McBeth

Oct. 5 (BusinessDesk) - Summerset Group expects to spend more than $150 million on its first retirement village in Tauranga after buying a plot of land in Papamoa Beach for an undisclosed sum.

The company wants to build a 280-unit village on the site, offering two- and three-bedroom villas and serviced apartments, a care centre and rest home with hospital-level care and a memory care centre. The village is expected to open in 2020 and provide 40 permanent jobs.

The village will be Summerset's first in Tauranga, and takes the company's greenfield sites to nine. Summerset has 23 villages that are completed or in development.

The company expects to add 450 retirement village units this calendar year, having built 165 units in the first six months of the year.

Yesterday, Summerset said third-quarter sales slipped 4.5 percent. However, it's anticipating a pick-up in sales in the final three months of the year when new units come on stream.

Tauranga forms part of what retirement village operators describe as the Golden Triangle with Hamilton and Auckland. The large ageing demographic of the three centres provides a tailwind for new developments to house that population.

Summerset shares last traded at $7.64 and have climbed 39 percent so far this year.

(BusinessDesk)

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