Churches may find guardian

Investor may answer community prayers

A WEALTHY mainland benefactor is interested in buying all the Anglican churches about to hit the market — and keep them as places of worship.

The Anglican Church Synod will meet tomorrow to formally decide the list of which buildings will be sold to raise $8 million to fund its redress commitment for past victims of abuse in its institutions.

The initial list released by the church included more than 70 churches — and parishes across Tasmania have since been expressing their anguish and concern at the move, and asked why the church would not instead sell its commercial properties.

But church-sale expert Andrew Hills, from PRDnationwide, revealed that he had been contacted by “someone looking to purchase all the Tasmanian churches which might go on the market and then gifting them to the community.”

TASMANIA’S Anglican community may have a new “guardian angel” in the form of a wealthy interstate benefactor who is interested in buying all the churches about to hit the market as a bulk lot.

The potential buyer has already indicated the driving force behind his mass church acquisition is to keep them as places of worship.

“It is very early days, but yes, I have had an inquiry from someone looking to purchase all the Tasmanian churches which might go on the market and then gifting them to the community,” Andrew Hills from PRDnationwide at New Norfolk said yesterday.

“I have also had a call from someone in Sydney who is interested in picking up a ‘few’ Tasmanian churches. It is hard at this early stage to estimate how much a bulk lot of churches would cost but they are not great earners because basically you are buying an empty space.”

Mr Hills has sold many churches during his career, of various faiths, including ones at Kempton, Parratah and Tunnack.

The prices secured have ranged from $75,000 to just under $300,000.

Based on the lowest figure, a buyer looking to snap up all of the 70-odd churches expected to be put up for sale would need to pay more than $5.2 million.

The Anglican Church Synod will meet in Launceston tomorrow to draw up the formal list of which buildings will go on the market to raise $8 million to fund its redress for victims of childhood abuse.

Parishes can appeal to the diocese and argue why their church should not be sold before a final list is released in December and sale signs go up.

Real Estate Institute of Tasmania president Tony Collidge said buying a church to repurpose as a home or business needed to be researched carefully because of zoning and heritage complications and sometimes maintenance issues.

“Churches are zoned as community meeting places and anyone buying a church would have to apply for rezoning,” Mr Collidge said.

“Things can get even more tricky if the building is on the heritage list because that can limit what can be done to the building.

“While the churches themselves can sell quite cheaply, you are basically paying for the land because the cost of renovating the building to a different use is significant.”

The Tasmanian Diocese of the Anglican Church did not respond to a request for a list of its commercial property portfolio. Questions are being asked among parishioners and the broader community about why these commercial proper- ties have been quarantined from sale, while much-loved community churches are being targeted.

It is understood the church owns 14 commercial properties across the state, including a carpark from which it generates income in Murray St, Hobart, and a motel and service station in Burnie.

Bishop Richard Condie said the commercial properties were not being considered for sale because they generated income.

Tomorrow, the Anglican Synod made up of 159 (57 clergy and 102 laity) representatives will meet to draw up a provisional list of properties to be sold to fund the church’s redress commitments.