Ryman plans Napier retirement village

By NZPA

Friday 7th February 2003

The former Princess Alexandra Hospital in Napier is to be turned in to a $20 million retirement village.

Ryman Healthcare, one of the country's largest providers of care for the elderly, confirmed it had bought the 1.5ha site at Ahuriri and planned to open the village next year.

Ryman managing director Kevin Hickman said it would provide accommodation for 150 elderly people, create 50 new jobs and would be the 14th village in the listed company's stable of retirement villages, stretching from Invercargill to Auckland.

The project would include independent townhouse or apartments for about 50 people with serviced apartments and resthome/hospital facilities for similar numbers.

Ryman purchased the site, which had been operated as a Southern Cross Hospital until about four years ago, from Napier businessman Rodney Green.

It was last used to provide temporary accommodation for boarders after fire swept through the chapel, convent and part of the hostel at Sacred Heart College almost two years ago.

Mr Hickman said it was a great site because of its location close to the centre of the city, its own little microclimate and the ongoing lifestyle development in the Ahuriri area.

The company had been looking for a site in Napier for some time because elderly people in Napier did not have a choice of a retirement village within the central city and had to move to Taradale, Havelock North or Hastings.

Planning had already begun for the development and units would be available for sale within the next twelve months, Mr Hickman said.

It would include community facilities like a swimming pool and bowling green.

He expected work on the project to begin in early winter. It would be designed and built by the company's staff.

Mr Hickman said Ryman hoped to retain the Princess Alexandra title for their village because of its historical significance.

"I have an old newspaper clipping which sets out how funds to build the private hospital were raised. I'll be investigating that," he said.

Ryman had a philosophy of setting up retirement homes for the elderly within their established neighbourhoods.

Since floating on the New Zealand Stock Exchange in 1999, Ryman has developed six retirement villages. The plan is to double the size of the company every five years.

Ryman employs over 1000 people and has won the best retirement village in New Zealand Award for the last three years.

It has 13 villages and five hospitals in Invercargill, Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, Lower Hutt, Hamilton and Auckland and will open a second development in Auckland later this year.

Ryman posted a record net profit of $7.6 million (up 68 percent on the same period a year earlier) for the six months to September 30 2002.

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