Demolition has begun on several Lower Queen St houses where 10 new villas will be built for the Arvida Oakwoods retirement village.
Village manager Andrew Morrison says the first villa is expected to be completed by the end of the year, with the development strengthening the village’s presence on the street.
Ten additional villas will bring the village to 116 villas, 45 serviced apartments and 48 care beds.
The sections were originally purchased for a new care centre that included a dementia unit, but in 2023 Arvida announced the project had been put on hold indefinitely. Since then, Arvida has been purchased by US-based private equity firm, Stonepeak.
Further along Lower Queen St at Arvida’s Waimea Plains village, construction is underway on a care centre which that will include 24 care units and 16 dementia units.
Oakwoods residents’ committee secretary Alec Waugh says residents are pleased the new villas are being built, but the development is vastly different from the original plans which included a rebuild of the existing care centre and hospital, plus a dementia unit.
He says Arvida originally said the existing care centre needed to be demolished, but later decided it would be refurbished and residents are unclear what that will entail.
“A refurbished care centre is not a long-term solution,” he says.
“The positive side is we have a lovely, refurbished lounge area and pleased we have the new units on Lower Queen St.”
