Methven Care Trust invited the community to look around its six two-bedroom apartments on Methven Chertsey Rd.
About 130 people turned out to view new retirement village style apartments in Methven.
The trust has turned the former tourist accommodation apartments into retirement units. It has tidied them up with fresh paint and new carpets, and altered the bathrooms to make them more accessible.
Visitors had the option to fill in an expression of interest form.
The apartments will be sold as a license to occupy model, which means someone can purchase the right to live in one of the apartments for the foreseeable future.
They are designed for independent living, which might suit someone who is looking to downsize from a house.
Over the years the occupants of the apartments then may wish to move over to the trust’s neighbouring rest home when perhaps they become less able bodied.
The open day last weekend also offered the public a chance to see the design plans for the neighbouring The Lodge building, which will be turned into a rest home, with the intentions to have care units and premium rooms.
The final bit of excitement on the day came in the form of the rest home’s new name.
Methven Care Trust had previously run a naming competition in order to come up with a new title for the complex.
Methven resident and someone who has been in full support of the project since the beginning, Sandy Redmond, won the competition.
Her successful entry was Methven Central, a title which depicts the building’s location in the town perfectly.
This is a project that has been in preparation for the past 10 years, with the plan to replace and upgrade the existing retirement home, Methven House on Morgan St.
The trust has worked hard for many years on this project and what began as a plan to rebuild just a rest home, has turned into the development of a retirement village.
In 2014, Lochhead Charitable Trust kindly gifted a piece of land in the Camrose subdivision, but initial forecasts estimated the need to raise up to $11 million to compete the construction project.
So much fundraising has been done and funding had taken a massive hit in recent years due to the country’s economy problems and Covid.
Fortunately, The Lodge became available and was purchased by the trust in December 2022.
The building ticks so many boxes and the lodge itself has 20 rooms, with the neighbouring six apartments.
It’s also in the heart of Methven, which is thought to be a major plus for future residents.
There is still a fair amount of funds needed to complete the project, with about $1 million dollars needed to get the rest home over the line.
The sale of the apartments will help fund the final stage of renovations and the refit of Methven Central.
The building consent from the council will hopefully be obtained by the end of the year.
From there the plan is to bring the builders in and all going well work can begin early next year and be open for business before the end of 2024.
