Mairi and Ken Dawson are on their second stint living in Blenheim.

“We came in 2000 and stayed for seven years, and now we’ve come back from Wellington,” Mairi said.

“We wanted to come back to Blenheim because we loved it when we were here, and we thought it was a really nice place to be, and then, of course, we knew about the village.”

That village – Summerset Blenheim Retirement – is about to open up its first 13 properties to the market. Last week, the Summerset team were in Blenheim to host four pre-sale sessions, each attended by over 70 people.

Mairi, who attended the Friday session, said she was glad she came because “she had a few questions” leading up to it.

While her and Ken were not necessarily “ready right now” to move into Summerset, the pair did register their interest in a property.

“We’re looking towards the future. We’re not getting any younger,” she said.

“There’s always catches in everything, so we’ll have to wait and see.

“There’s no harm in it. We’ve got more information, and we’ll be able to look around and see what they’re like.”

Summerset is an organisation with 38 villages across New Zealand, and some in Australia too, with over 7500 residents.

The organisation this year changed its plans in Blenheim from a 15-metre high, multi-storey main building consented for in 2021, to only single-storey builds.

Initially, the consented design of the main building was going to be twice as high as the Proposed Marlborough Environment Plan allowed for, following a decision from an independent commissioner.

However, the new design was said to be “more synonymous and sympathetic with the surrounding vernacular of Blenheim”.

It meant the number of independent living units dropped from 224 to 180, while the number of available care bed spaces was also reduced from 43 to 30.

The new single-storey main building would house hospital beds, a café, library, pool and other recreational areas and was expected to open at the end of 2026. A temporary recreation centre would open in the interim.

It would be surrounded by independent villas, with on-site parking and internal roading connecting to Old Renwick Rd. On-site rest home and hospital level care would start once certified by Te Whatu Ora.

At the pre-sales event on Friday, Summerset announced that prices for their 72sqm one-bedroom cottages with an allocated car park, still to be built, would start from $615,000.

The 112sqm two-bedroom villas started at $750,000 and three-bedroom started at $879,000. That sum paid for a licence to occupy, with a $167 weekly fee for services such as maintenance, exterior cleaning, rates, and village management paid on top of that.

Built on a “high water table”, about 30 tradies were working on the site. About 5km of pipes had to be laid for the main infrastructure, and a new sewer pump.

Summerset group sales manager Petria Tullett said the earliest move in date for the new units was January 15.

While 15 homes had been completed, 13 would come onto the market as one would be used as a temporary sales offie and another for village management.

“There’s a lot of interest that we’re getting already,” Tullett said.

When the pre-sales event opened up for questions on Friday, one person asked if there would be space to park motorhomes.

Summerset sales capability specialist Deborah Brownie told the group there would be space to park them during the day, should any residents need to pack their motorhomes, or unpack them at the end of their holiday.

Another asked if you could add extras on to any of the homes yet to be built.

Brownie said this could be arranged, subject to sign-off. Residents, for example, might want a small cat or dog, and need a cat door, she said.

Another asked if they had any plans for dementia care.

While early onset dementia could be manageable in Blenheim, the closest secure facility was in Richmond.

“Only a very small require secure dementia care. People can live very well with dementia,” Brownie siad.

“We are a dementia-friendly retirement operator, and we have trained staff to assist.”