Wellington’s St Gerard’s Church and Monastery sold earlier this year for just $4.65 million.
Sales records on OneRoof show that the high-profile category one, heritage-listed building was bought for more than $12m below its declared RV of $16.9m.
The sale price was first reported by The Post.
The church and monastery had been snapped up within a month of hitting the market in February this year.
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Listing agent James Copeland, from Tommy’s, posted news of the sale on Facebook in March.
“Yes, it is true!! This iconic beautiful Wellington building is now SOLD! It has been an incredible honour to represent the owners for this sale and a massive congratulations to the new owners who will now become part of Wellington’s history.”
Copeland would not be drawn on who bought the property, when contacted by OneRoof, but said “all of Wellington will be watching in interest”. Settlement on the property was at the end of June.
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The buildings had sold in 1990 for $540,000 to the Institute for World Evangelisation – ICPE Mission, which used them as a retreat and training centre for missionaries.
They were closed almost two years ago after the organisation failed to raise enough funds to carry out the required earthquake-strengthening work.
The buildings are rated just 25% of the building standard and need significant work to bring it up to current standards.
ICPE Mission director Silvana Abela told the media at the time that they felt a moral responsibility for the safety of people and so it would remain empty until it could be fixed.
Copeland told OneRoof that there had been a lot of interest in the property from wealthy Wellingtonian businessmen to overseas buyers looking at it both for development purposes and as a private residence.
“I was just delighted with the response from Wellington and from overseas. There was a huge amount of interest in the monastery just because of the nature of the building and the amount of people that went through was really quite diverse. I probably expected a number of local developers to be possibly interested in the building, but beyond that there was a wide range of people with a wide range of ideas of what they might do with the monastery.”
It was undoubtedly the most unique property he had ever marketed.
The property has 30 bedrooms and eight bathrooms. and is one of the capital city’s best-known buildings. Photo / Keith Bennett Photography
The owners of the church had tried to raise funds to save it. Photo / Keith Bennett Photography
“Unlikely I will probably get one as unique as that to be honest unless they decide to sell the Beehive – you never know. I think as far as Wellingtonians go, that is very unique and very special to them – probably a lot more special than the Beehive really because it has been there for such a long time, it’s so prominent and it has kind of been seen as the spiritual home of Wellington as well.”
While Wellingtonians were devastated to learn several years ago that it was being closed down as a church, he believed they understood it needed someone to step in and carry out the earthquake-strengthening work and refurbishing.
“It is a heritage building so it will be up there on the hill looking the same way that it does, it may not be serving the same purposes, but it will be up there looking the same way that it does for the next 100 years.”
The last service was held on May 23, 2021 and it has since been deconsecrated. People have been living in the monastery which has about 30 bedrooms and eight bathrooms.
The church was built in 1908 and the monastery about two decades later in 1932. Both were designed by the city’s most well-known architects, John Swan and Frederick de Jersey Clere.
The northern part of the building has impressive views out to Oriental Bay and over the harbour, while the western side looks out to the city’s well-known landmarks such as Clyde Quay, the waterfront, CBD, stadium and Victoria University.
The buildings sit on 2433sqm of the city’s most prime real estate and due to its sheer size takes about an hour and a half to do a viewing.
Trying to put a value on it was impossible, Copeland said.
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