Church fetches $520K
• St Marks Church and hall in Bridport was sold at auction on Saturday. Photo supplied.
By Daisy Baker
December 16, 2020
St Marks Anglican Church in Bridport’s Main Street sold at auction on Saturday for $520,000.
The historic church and hall at the rear of the property were sold as part of the National Redress Scheme.
Local siblings Dannielle Butler, Joe Krushka and Sam Faulkner bought the property through their jointly owned company.
Dannielle said there are lots of options on the table and nothing has been set in stone for the church and hall’s future yet.
“We don’t really know what we’ll do with it yet. We need to sit down and talk through the options,” she said.
“We might do it up and Air BnB it or rent it out, or use it for another business venture. We might renovate it but that won’t happen just yet.
“It was just such a good opportunity and with Council it’s under the business zone.”
She said the plan at this stage is to keep the buildings largely as they are or extend onto them.
Dannielle was one of four people bidding for the church and hall, and she opened bidding at $300,000 when the auction was taking a while to get going.
The fast-paced auction attracted a crowd of more than 50 keen onlookers.
When the Diocesan Council announced in December 2018 on properties across the state to be sold to contribute to the Redress Fund, St Marks sparked Dannielle’s interest.
She emailed the contact who advised her it wouldn’t be up for sale for some time and kept her in the loop and told her when it came on the market recently.
“It’s such a good spot and we were really keen to get it so we’re glad that we did,” Dannielle concluded.