{"id":287229,"date":"2026-02-16T21:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-16T21:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/287229\/"},"modified":"2026-02-16T21:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-16T21:00:08","slug":"arvida-bethlehem-shores-100m-expansion-nears-completion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/287229\/","title":{"rendered":"Arvida Bethlehem Shores: $100m expansion nears completion"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Government has begun reforms of aged-care<\/a> system funding and the retirement village sector<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A 2024 review by Health NZ Te Whatu Ora<\/a> found funding for aged residential care and home and community support services was \u201cnot fit for purpose\u201d.<\/p>\n

Arvida chief executive Jeremy Nicoll told the Bay of Plenty Times that groundworks started about two years ago and construction had progressed on time and on budget.<\/p>\n

The expansion would create 60 new jobs, including registered nurses, kitchen, laundry, administrative and cleaning roles, he said.<\/p>\n

Nicoll said Bethlehem Shores had been operating for about 15 years. Arvida bought it in 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince then, we\u2019ve finished off the clubhouse there and built nearly all the remaining villas that we can on-site.\u201d<\/p>\n

The care suites and apartments were \u201ca big milestone\u201d as it was \u201cthe last big piece of the puzzle\u201d of the retirement village.<\/p>\n

Nicoll said the independent-living apartments had \u201cspectacular\u201d views towards the Kaimai Ranges, Mount Maunganui and across the water.<\/p>\n

He said the care suites were divided into \u201chouseholds\u201d of 11 people for those in rest-home and hospital-level care.<\/p>\n

The care suites had a shared kitchen and communal area. Rooms also had \u201csome form of kitchen or kitchenette\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Fifty-fiveFifty-five new care suites will open at Arvida Bethlehem Shores retirement village on March 9. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Nicoll said it had a separate unit for dementia care.<\/p>\n

He said cross-laminated timber was used for the expansion because it is a more sustainable product.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll have to go through the process, but we\u2019re aiming to achieve a Homestar level 7 for the building as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Homestar rating is a New Zealand Green Building Council-run certification. It is an independent rating tool for assessing the health, efficiency, and sustainability of homes on a scale of 6 to 10. <\/p>\n

Nicoll said the clubhouse had a bar, library, movie theatre, public cafe, swimming pool and gym.<\/p>\n

Once the new building opened, there would be another cafe, lounges, hair salons, craft rooms, a kitchen and dining areas, a wine room and courtyards, he said.<\/p>\n

Nicoll said Bethlehem Shores already had 228 independent living villas, which were full. Another four villas would be added in the coming months.<\/p>\n

\"AA care suite at Arvida Bethlehem Shores retirement village. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

He said the expansion allowed for people whose needs increased to move elsewhere on-site to get the required level of care. <\/p>\n

Beforehand, people would have to move off-site.<\/p>\n

Nicoll said the care suites and apartments opened for public visitations in the past few weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemand has been great.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe new care suites at Arvida Bethlehem Shores retirement village have been under construction for about two years. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Nicoll said the funding model for aged care was \u201cinsufficient for the services that are provided\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said the Government had been taking the issue seriously and was establishing an advisory group to review aged care sector funding, which Arvida supported.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a really hard issue to fix. I think what the industry\u2019s seeing is really the occupancy levels of aged care facilities are increasing, and with the new supply of care facilities being relatively limited, there will be a capacity issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Health and Disability Commissioner spokesperson said the Aged Care Commissioner had previously raised concerns about the sector\u2019s capacity to meet growing demand. <\/p>\n

\u201cOlder New Zealanders are entitled to an appropriate standard of health and disability care. This is an important issue, and one the HDC is attentive to and will continue to monitor. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is positive that work is currently underway at a national level to address the ongoing sustainability of the aged care sector.\u201d<\/p>\n

Megan Wilson<\/a> is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Government has begun reforms of aged-care system funding and the retirement village sector. A 2024 review by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287230,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3548,45186,16200,114550,22374,536,5907,18990,13689,1132,4486,130,11688,111,43,139,1536,69,5493,84484,66410,37865,131,1533],"class_list":{"0":"post-287229","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-3548","9":"tag-100m","10":"tag-apartments","11":"tag-arvida","12":"tag-bethlehem","13":"tag-care","14":"tag-completed","15":"tag-completion","16":"tag-expansion","17":"tag-million","18":"tag-month","19":"tag-more","20":"tag-nears","21":"tag-new-zealand","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-newzealand","24":"tag-next","25":"tag-nz","26":"tag-open","27":"tag-shores","28":"tag-suites","29":"tag-taurangas","30":"tag-than","31":"tag-will"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}