If ever there were a community ideally suited to retirement, then Papamoa Beach in the Bay of Plenty has to be it and that’s where Graham Wilkinson is investing $185 million to create New Zealand’s largest retirement village.
Nestled on almost 16ha of valuable beachfront real estate with a 150-year lease, the resort-style Pacific Coast Village is a partnership between Wilkinson and local iwi. After slow beginnings in 2009, it has become so popular that 100 of the planned 220 villas were sold in 2017 and the partnership is now planning a second Pacific Lakes Village comprising 345 villas and 40 apartments on 17ha of adjacent land.
Managed by Wilkinson’s Christchurch-based Generus Living Group, the Pacific Coast Village exemplifies the owner’s passion for creating world class retirement village environments in prime locations. “We don’t build institutions, we build real villages; communities that don’t take away your independence either in style or in substance but are still there if and when you need us,” he says.
In addition to Papamoa, Generus also operates Wilkinson’s wholly owned $100 million Ranfurly Village and Hospital complex in Auckland and the $42m Russley Village in Christchurch he shares in partnership with fellow Rich Lister Antony Gough. There’s also the smaller Holly Lea complex in Fendalton owned on a 50/50 basis and valued at $16.5m.
Originally from Cromwell, Wilkinson was a police constable for seven years before he dropped out of the force and completed a commerce degree and an MBA at Otago University, which then led to his career in residential subdivision, retirement villages and hotel development.
Among his hotel portfolio is the 134-room boutique Hotel St Moritz in the heart of Queenstown, which Wilkinson developed in 1997. Having recently undergone a $4m refurbishment, which the manager says “demonstrates our owner’s obsession with quality,” rooms start at $300 a night. Since 2008, Wilkinson has also been involved in the nearby 82-room Sofitel Queenstown Resort and Spa where room rates start at $400 a night.
Further afield, Wilkinson owns a sizeable chunk of the Heritage Hanmer Springs and the Rydges Wellington Hotel. However, the crowning glory could be his proposed Brecon St development in Queenstown where he is seeking resource consent to build two hotels comprising 468 rooms near the base of the gondola terminal.
In a submission to hearing commissioners on behalf of the Brecon Street Partnership, in which he holds a 75% stake, Wilkinson says the site is one of the town’s best for a hotel or high density residential accommodation because 600,000 people go directly past it every year on their way to Queenstown’s iconic tourist attraction.
Married to Liz and with two grown children, the 50-something developer resides at a seemingly modest 2ha lifestyle block near Queenstown worth $2.2m.
Photo: New Zealand Herald/newspix.co.nz