A historic Auckland church building that was damaged by fire almost two years ago and had been the subject of a fierce fight over its future has hit the market again.
The mortgagee sale of St James Church, in Mount Eden, comes less than a year after it was bought by a developer.
The property at 31 Esplanade Road, which has a $5.2 million CV, is in the prized double grammar zone and offers buyers 2272sqm of land zoned mixed housing urban.
Bayleys Commercial agents Alan Haydock and Damien Bullick said the property is being offered with resource consent to convert the former church building to residential apartments.
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Haydock said the site was made up of two main parts: the church building and "approximately 900sqm of surplus vacant land which is suitable for residential development".
“The former St James Church structure has had a resource consent granted for conversion into four residential apartments – but would equally be suited to refurbishment and development for a range of alternative uses, subject to council consents."
The property, which is for sale by way of tender, closing October 8, has a category B historic heritage listing.
The listing of the St James Church building follows the successful sale of another former church by Haydock and Bullick. The agents sold the St Johns Church building at 229A Ponsonby Road, in Ponsonby.
The former St Johns Church building at 229A Ponsonby Road was pitched at developers. Photo / Supplied
The 2462sqm site, which was brought to market just before the start of the Covid-19 crisis, had been pitched as a development buy.
Development sites in Auckland's high value suburbs are in high demand. Last month a tired-looking villa on a 1047sqm parcel of land zoned mixed housing suburban sold under the hammer for $4.855 million - more than $2 million above its 2017 CV.
The seven-bedroom house at 4 Stokes Road, which was marketed for sale by Barfoot and Thompson agent Cici Wang, was snapped up by a developer after frantic bidding at auction. Auctioneer Murray Smith told OneRoof there were 71 bids made on the property, with 17 registered bidders all competing to secure the site.
Developer Gibbons Co's deal to buy a 2525sqm property in Remuera for $8.6 million went unconditional last month, and a large section of undeveloped land in the CBD sold for $6.9 million at a mortgagee sale.
Ray White Commercial director Finn Hurst, who brokered the Gibbon Co deal, says that his division at Ray White was focused on finding land for developments and worked with residential agents to find suitable properties, with many deals being off-market.
The sale of St James Church will put a cap on the site's recent troubled history.
The church building, which was designed by Robert Watt and John Mitchell and built in 1900, was used as a place of worship until its closure in 2012 after it was found to be structurally unsafe.
The property had been at the centre of a long legal fight after a developer agreed in 2014 to buy it for an undisclosed price, on the condition his company could demolish the hall.
Shortly after the Environment Court ruled against Auckland's Council's bid to stop the demolition, a fire broke out at the property, resulting in the forced demolition of one of the two buildings on the site.
The developer sold the site at the end of last year but the new owners decided to put it on the market not long after with another real estate agency, saying their plans had changed and that they could no longer keep the property.
