The Catholic Church has snapped up a landmark Auckland winery famous for its summer music concerts, OneRoof can reveal.
Ascension Wine Estate, which had been on the market for nearly two years, sold for an undisclosed price and is set to be turned over to the Catholic Diocese of Auckland within months.
The diocese wouldn't discuss the amount it had paid, although the price tag on the OneRoof listing was $7.5 million.
The diocese, however, confirmed to OneRoof it had plans to open a new church and community centre at the 6.23ha site, which is located just outside of Warkworth.
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James van Schie, general manager of the diocese, told OneRoof the Warkworth parish of The Holy Name would take over the site once the deal was done, and would convert the existing function centre into a church.
The rest of the development plans for the site had a longer horizon, Van Schie said. “The parish and diocese have been looking for the better part of 20 years. We have looked at lots of different sites. Some have been too big or too contoured or in the wrong place or too expensive. This one looks right for us."
He added: "We’re an organisation that has been around for 2000 years, so we have patience."
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Ascension Wine Estate was founded in the 1990s and was owned and operated by the Soljan wine-making family before it was put into receivership in 2013.
It was then picked for a reported $3m by property investors Alex and Susan Sipka, whose Sipka Group owns and manages commercial and residential properties across New Zealand. The group had shut the winery's hospitality business in 2019 and the estate has largely remained closed since.
In its heyday, Ascension was a popular venue for weddings and music festivals. Past acts at the estate include the Hollies, Jimmy Barnes, Sir Dave Dobbyn and Rhys Darby.
The Ascension deal was brokered by Harcourts agents Jodene Mildon and Matthew Iliffe, in conjunction with New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty agents Winston Kidd, Prudence Foster and Emmerson Foster.
Mildon told OneRoof: "We are thrilled to have completed this sale, as it signifies a new chapter for both the property and our community. This deal not only brings new life to a cherished local landmark but also strengthens our community by providing a space for connection and growth.”
The existing wedding and function centre, which has lain dormant since 2019, can be easily converted to a church. Photo / Supplied
People find the best spots at the Winery Tour music festival at Ascension in 2010. Photo / Steven McNicholl
Che Fu, left, and Boh Runga perform on stage at the Winery Tour. Photo / Steven McNicholl
She added: “We knew it was a perfect match. The diocese's commitment to fostering a vibrant community aligned well with our hopes for the future of the estate."
Van Schie said the space and aesthetics of the existing Italian-style building on the Ascension site meant a new church could be up and running quickly.
“The architecture has a familiar and aesthetic appeal for us. Beauty is an important part of life but it doesn’t mean that it has to always have an Italian or Mediterranean feel in the future," he said.
“Our church is increasingly multicultural, increasingly strengthened by the dynamism of Asia and the Pacific. So what the future will look like is really open to the creativity of the community,” he said, adding that there will be consultation on what people would like to see on the site, including what happens to the wine-making facilities.
Consultation is under way with the community on what other parish services could be offered on the 6.23ha site. Photo / Supplied
“We don’t have any intention to make wine at this stage, but you know Catholics have been involved in brewing beer and making wine for some time."
He added: “We are still in the due diligence period. We haven’t gone unconditional. We’re excited by the opportunity, but we are just working through the finishing touches of community consultation and our own due diligence.”
Longer-term, the diocese may see demand for schools for the area, but right now, van Schie said the population was not big enough to support a typical 250-300 pupil school. He pointed out that the land for the diocese’s newest school, which opened at the end of last year, St Ignatius of Loyola Catholic College in Drury, was acquired in the late 1990s.
He said the diocese had pegged west Auckland as the next growing part of the city, and a year or two ago it acquired a 10-hectare site in Huapai, with a long-term view to building another “Ormiston-style” development of church, parish centre and schools.
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