Graham Wilkinson’s latest public foray was defending the contracts people sign before moving into retirement villages. As president and longest-serving member of the Retirement Villages Association – a voluntary association representing developers, managers and operators of rest homes throughout the country – it is an entirely understandable position for him to take.
Certainly, Queenstown-based Wilkinson is experiencing a bullish demand for the retirement village experience. His long-awaited Papamoa complex that began with the Pacific Coast Village retirement home has proved a big success, despite an initially slow beginning in 2009. Run by Wilkinson’s Generus Living Group, not only have additions been made to the site but also ground has been broken on next door’s $250 million Pacific Lakes Village.
Wilkinson has long put an emphasis on quality and character in Generus’ rest homes, and it’s there to see at both Pacific Coast and Pacific Lakes. The latter is a 350-home, eco-friendly retirement village complete with solar power and farm-to-table service. Eventually there will be more than 1000 people living on the two sites, both of which are joint ventures between Generus Living Group and local iwi.
Wilkinson came from humble beginnings in Otago. Had he been prepared to settle, his life could have taken a very different tack; after high school he joined the police but, despite the profession’s challenges and job security, he quit after several years as a constable and began studying commerce at Otago University. After gaining his MBA he worked briefly as an accountant before becoming a developer, soon finding himself in the retirement home industry.
Generus Living Group has expanded over the years. Among its assets are the $100m Ranfurly Village and Hospital complex in Auckland, as well as partnership holdings in the Holly Lea complex in Fendalton and Christchurch’s Russley Village. Along with retirement villages, Wilkinson is also involved in hotel investment, partly owning a number of notable hotels in New Zealand including Rydges Wellington and Queenstown’s boutique Hotel St Moritz. His company Brecon St Partnership has recently obtained permission to build a further two hotels in central Queenstown.
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2018: $140 million