High-profile church site to be sold

The Christchurch city site that was home to St Luke’s Church for more than 150 years until it was destroyed in the 2011 earthquakes is being sold by Church Property Trustees on behalf of the Anglican Diocese of Christchurch.

Located on the corner of Manchester and Kilmore streets, the high-profile 3029sq m landholding is one of the few bare CBD sites remaining.

Courtney Doig, Investment Sales Broker at Colliers Christchurch, says many developers are now busy with inner city residential projects, creating a new opportunity for others.

Originally known as St Luke the Evangelist, it was built in 1858 but taken down in 1908 to make way for a larger stone and brick structure, faced with stone from Halswell. It was designed by Cyril Mountfort, the son of Benjamin Mountfort, in Gothic Revival style.

The former Category Two listed heritage building was extensively damaged and subsequently demolished following the earthquakes. The only remaining structure is the Bell Tower, which is a listed heritage item under the Christchurch City Plan.

At 248 Manchester Street, the property is for sale by deadline private treaty, closing 28 February.

“This is an absolutely stellar location and there are very few opportunities to acquire development sites of such scale within this tightly held locality,” Doig says.

“It’s a substantial central city development block and has an expansive 113m frontage across two main central city arterials and is superbly positioned to the north of the Avon River.

"Within the immediate vicinity is the Margaret Mahy Playground, the Avon River, recently completed Avon River loop walkway, the Victoria Street precinct, Hagley Park, Christchurch Town Hall, and the CBD.”

Doig says the other unique appeal is the heritage aspect with the retention of the Bell Tower, stone walls and established landscaping.

The City Plan says the timber Bell Tower was built in 1908, at the same time as the new masonry church replaced the original timber St Luke’s. The bell housed in the tower had previously hung in the church’s bell tower and had been ordered from Messrs Warner and Sons in England in 1879 and installed the following year.

The church vestry decided not to include a tower in the new church built in 1908, but a temporary timber bell tower was built instead, presumably with the intention of adding a tower to the church at some later date.

- Article supplied by Colliers