North Adelaide properties to be placed on market

At its November meeting, the General Church Board (GCB) resolved to place the LCA’s North Adelaide properties on the market. The land package encompasses Australian Lutheran College (ALC), including the student housing, and the Churchwide Office.

‘The land and buildings are no longer serving the church well and they are unlikely to meet its future needs’, Brett Hausler, Executive Officer of the Church, said. ‘While the North Adelaide site has been a blessing to the church over many years, it has been appropriate to review its purpose.’

ALC has served the church well from its North Adelaide campus for many decades. The campus is fondly remembered by students and teaching staff as a hub of Christian community and personal growth. However, the North Adelaide campus is now largely under-utilised with very limited use of some buildings. The cost of maintaining the site is approximately $400,000 per annum. Further, ALC’s move to a distributed learning model means the site is no longer necessary for its operations.

The Churchwide Office, located in a sprawling 1930s complex built for other purposes, is inconsistent with modern workplace design and practice.

‘So it is timely that we explore options for how we can be the best stewards of what we have been blessed with’, Mr Hausler said.

GCB reached the decision to place the properties on the market after 12 months of careful deliberation.

While options will be explored through an expression-of-interest process, if a sale were to occur it is expected that the proceeds would be used to purchase a property that will better serve the people and ministries of the LCANZ into the future, as well as to provide income to support mission and ministry from the investment of remaining proceeds.

Significant work has been undertaken over the past year, including: reviewing the heritage and planning requirements such as listed buildings and significant trees; clarifying the needs of local council and heritage bodies; obtaining subdivision approval for the existing land to provide flexibility for redevelopment or its sale; and exploring buildings around Adelaide for possible relocation if this is required.

The church will soon be advertising for a property manager to assist with matters relating to the North Adelaide properties, including the relocation of ALC and Churchwide Office in the event of a sale. The job description for the role will shortly be available at www.lca.org.au/employment

‘We give thanks to God for blessing us with the gift of the North Adelaide properties, which served the LCANZ well for several decades’, Mr Hausler said. ‘We look forward now to seeing how God will bless us in the future, in the new place our Churchwide Office and ALC will call home.’