Putāruru born and bred property developer Tim Bartells is returning to the South Waikato town with plans to build a $200
million 254 villa retirement village starting in October this year.
Bartells says Putāruru Country Estate will include 254 mixed size villas from 95m2 to 185m2 along with a 2,000m2
five-star resort quality recreation and community facility incorporating a heated swimming pool, spa, gym, picture
theatre, restaurant and café, library, doctors’ rooms, snooker and pool tables, grand piano, Menz shed, bowling green,
virtual golf and more.Longridge Country Estate, Paeroa – model for Putāruru Country Estate
“It's important to us that our residents have outstanding facilities to enjoy with other residents, friends and family,”
says Bartells. “The 16-hectare site on Kennedy Drive is a very attractive rural setting bordering the Putāruru Golf
Course, rugby and soccer clubs. Putāruru Country Estate will also have an aged care facility which will provide rest
home hospital and dementia care.”
South Waikato District Council Mayor Jenny Shattock said the planned investment was great news for Putāruru and for the
South Waikato district. It follows on from other multimillion dollar investments in the district in recent times
including the South Waikato Trades Training Centre currently being built on the northern entry to Tokoroa and the Olam
dairy facility to be developed just south of Tokoroa.
“There are real economic benefits from a big project like this for the community. Apart from creating a lovely place for
retirees to live, there are a lot of work opportunities for everything from earthworks and civil engineering, building
and construction and numerous subcontractors which in turn will attract new business into the area. There is also the
continuum of work as this project will be ongoing for many years.”
Putāruru Country Estate will be Bartells’ third large retirement village complementing Longridge Country Estate, a
420-unit village in Paeroa, and Amberley Country Estate, a 250-unit village in Christchurch. He says prospective
Putāruru Country Estate buyers can preview what they will be buying by visiting Longridge in Paeroa.
“In the retirement villages I am building each villa has more space for outside living areas, lawns and gardens. We are
not about cramming in as many villas as we can. We are about providing beautifully built high quality functional homes
that people will love to live in.
“We put a lot of technology into our villas with all of them having emergency call buttons in every room, hard-wired
smoke alarms that turn off the power to the area where the smoke is detected. We have TV and computer terminals in every
room so there are no Sky dishes or TV aerials as it is a centralised system that includes fully monitored security
systems for our residents’ peace of mind. We also provide an embedded power network for which the village bulk buys
power and we have achieved savings of 50% which we pass on directly to our residents.”
Bartells was born in Putāruru Maternity Hospital, and went to school at St Marys and then Putāruru High School where he
met his partner Jenny Wilson who is a full partner in Putaruru Country Estate and Bartells’ other villages. “In those
days Putāruru was booming with 1,000 kids at the high school. All my brothers and sisters were brought up in Putāruru
and many people will remember my Mum, Pearl who worked for 30 years in Elizabeth Amber, a local material shop. My Dad
worked for Taupō Totara Timber and PTY timber yard.”
Bartells left school at 16 and worked in the bush as a crosscutter and skidder driver and then went into dairy farming
which he did for many years in the Waikato and then in Tasmania where he first became involved in property development.
“There is a lot of history in Putāruru for me so to be able to come back home and do something like this has a special
significance for me. I still know a lot of people in Putāruru and many of my school mates are still around, so I am
looking forward to catching up with old friends.”
Bartells has been very pleased with the support he has received from South Waikato District Council. “From my initial
contact with Interim Chief Executive Miriam Taris and all members of the executive team I have been impressed with their
willingness to work with me to streamline the compliance journey. I believe we have the opportunity together to create
some industry leading processes to optimally manage the regulatory process for a large project.”
Bartells sees the Putāruru Country Estate as complementary to Putaruru based Rangiura Hospital, Rest Home and Retirement
Village’s existing 106-unit village and their intended future developments and is in discussions with Rangiura Chair Jos
Van Loon about how the two businesses can work together.
“Rather than being in competition I see the services we are both offering as being complementary and I am very keen to
work with Jos and his team to provide the best care possible. My Mum was one of the very first residents built at the
Rangiura Retirement Village and was later in Rangiura Rest Home. The care she received from Rangiura both in the village
and in care was fantastic.”
Van Loon said Putāruru was a great spot to retire in and to develop accommodation and services for retirees so Rangiura
had anticipated for some time that other developers would be attracted to the town. “We appreciate the approach from Tim
Bartells and we look forward to further discussions on how can work together for the benefit of retirees and the
Putāruru community.”