Church spends $15m on riverside sites
The Catholic Church has spent more than $15 million on several blocks of riverside Christchurch land, likely to be the first stakes in a larger site for a complex which may include a new cathedral.
The church announced in August it would demolish its earthquakedamaged Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, once considered by some to be New Zealand’s finest building, and rebuild on a more central site.
It also plans to cut the number of parishes in the city and sell off surplus churches within four years.
Property and company records reveal the Catholic diocese has bought 10 vacant properties in the central city block bordered by Armagh and Manchester streets and Oxford Tce – eight opposite New Regent St and another two on the corner of Colombo St and Oxford Tce.
The eight adjoining sites were sold to the church for $11m by Christchurch investor Ben Gough’s company Tailorspace.
The ninth and tenth sites, opposite Victoria Square and the Christchurch Town Hall, remain in the hands of Victoria Apartments Ltd, a company the church has bought from its previous owner, Christchurch investor Andrew Everist.
While the price of that deal remains under wraps, it is understood to have cost the church $4.37m.
Both the newly bought sites have had buildings demolished since the earthquakes and both Gough and Everist had redevelopment plans.
The rest of the land on the block comprises several sites owned by the Carter Group including the derelict former PWC site, plus the former Copthorne hotel site facing Victoria Square owned by Millennium and Copthorne Hotels.
The Press reported in April that the riverside block was the church’s desired location for a new cathedral and possibly a school and diocesan headquarters.
Bishop Paul Martin did not respond to a request to comment on the purchase.
A spokesman for the diocese confirmed the purchases but said any more information would come from the bishop when he was ready to make a statement.
In June, Martin announced they would reduce the number of parishes from 12 to five in the suburbs and the central city. As well as the new acquisitions, the diocese owns the existing cathedral site on Barbadoes St, the adjacent Cathedral College and former convent sites, and the St Mary’s Pro-Cathedral and primary school site in Manchester St.
Building a new cathedral is expected to cost the church about $40m.
This is just over a quarter of the approximately $150m it would have cost to restore the existing cathedral, a 114-year-old Oamaru stone basilica designed by Francis Petre.
Money from the sale of the Barbadoes St and surplus suburban land, plus $30m set aside from a larger insurance settlement, will go towards the new building work.
Christchurch’s previous bishop, Barry Jones, had approved a plan to retain just the central nave of the historic cathedral for about $45m.
After being ordained last year following Jones’ death, Martin said that cost had escalated to $90m and would not deliver what the church needed. He questioned the morality of spending large sums on repairs.
The cathedral can be demolished without resource consent under postearthquake rules.
At 4340 square metres, or nearly half a hectare, the church’s new sites occupy more than a third of the vacant city block extending from Manchester to Colombo streets and adjoining the city’s new Avon River promenade.