- Church building to be replaced by townhouses after developer snaps up the site for around $1m.

- Complications, including damp, asbestos, and proximity to a railway corridor, had put off a lot of buyers.

- The property's asking price dropped by around $600,000 during its time on the market.

A Wellington church will be bowled and replaced by townhouses after being picked up by a developer for a whopping $1.5 million below its RV.

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The asking price of the Wadestown Presbyterian Church building, which hasn’t been used since the church closed almost two years ago, dropped by around $600,000 in the seven months it was on the market because of additional complications arising around the site.

The former Wadestown Presbyterian Church has sold the site to a developer after slashing the original asking price by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Photo / Supplied

The oldest church on the site dates back to the early 1900s. Photo / Supplied

The former Wadestown Presbyterian Church has sold the site to a developer after slashing the original asking price by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Photo / Supplied

The last service was held onsite in March 2023. Photo / Supplied

This brought the eventual asking price down to $999,000, which was well below its RV of $2.57m, of which $1.55m was land value.

The exact sale price cannot be disclosed as yet, but Tommy's listing agent Alice O'Styke confirmed it was close to the asking price.

The historic property comprised a grey wooden church built in 1901 that later became the hall when it was joined by a much larger brick church with a high cathedral ceiling in 1958. Both shared the 859sqm corner site on Wadestown Road.

O’Styke said a lot of people had ideas about what could be done to renovate the church, but ultimately they ended up being too complicated and costly.

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The buildings are on a slope and had damp and asbestos issues. There is also no car parking on site, which made it difficult for anyone wanting to renovate it, especially with the council planning to remove some on-street car parking in the area to make way for new cycleways, she said.

It became even more challenging when the buildings were identified as being within 100m of the railway corridor, which meant there were further requirements around insulation in terms of renovating the property.

“As you can see we ran in terms of lots of complications.”

O’Styke said she received an offer for more than the eventual sale price, but that buyer ended up walking away from his plans to renovate it because of the issues with the railway corridor.

The price was then dropped to $999,000, which was when the developer stepped in.

The former Wadestown Presbyterian Church has sold the site to a developer after slashing the original asking price by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Photo / Supplied

The Wadestown Community Centre on Pitt Street, in Wadestown, is under contract. Photo / Supplied

The former Wadestown Presbyterian Church has sold the site to a developer after slashing the original asking price by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Photo / Supplied

Wellington City Council is selling the building because of low usage, being on a steep hill, having no parking and poor accessibility and visibility. Photo / Supplied

The developer is planning to bowl the buildings and replace them with bespoke-style housing, which O'Styke believes would fill a gap in the area. He is still working out the plans and has not applied to the council for consent at this stage.

O’Styke said the townhouse development would provide good quality and value modern homes in an area filled predominantly with older character homes.

“I think it will be a huge advantage to the area.”

The church closed its doors in March 2023, with the decision driven by a lack of people resources rather than a lack of money or dwindling membership.

Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand gave the regional body for the lower North Island Presbyterian Central the go-ahead to sell the church.

Meanwhile the Wadestown Community Centre at 46 Pitt Street, which is being marketed by O'Styke on behalf of Wellington City Council, is also under contract and is expected to be confirmed next week.

The 1905 building, which has an RV of $1.38m including a land value of $1.12m. It has been used as a local workers' club, a library, a community hub hosting a creche and more recently the toy library.

The council decided to offload the community centre last year because of its low usage, being on a steep hill, having no parking and poor accessibility and visibility.

The proposed sale of the community centre had initially angered the community. Wellington’s Wharangi/Onslow-Western Ward councillor Diane Calvert told OneRoof last year that the community was “up in arms” about the council wanting to sell the community centre without proper community consultation.

At the time, Calvert suggested that if the council went ahead with its plan to sell the Pitt Street building then it should buy the Wadestown Presbyterian Church buildings and make it the new community centre.

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