- Leslie Harris sold two historic Devonport churches for $4.25m after two years on the market.
- The renovations took six years and millions, transforming the buildings into luxury homes.
- A previous sale fell through due to Commerce Commission ruling against the buyer’s business deal.
New Zealand’s first-home buyer champion has finally sold the two historic church buildings she spent millions transforming into luxury homes.
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The former St Augustine’s Anglican churches on Calliope Street, in Auckland’s Devonport, were snapped up for $4.25 million after more than two years on the market and drama with the Commerce Commission.
Leslie Harris, who helps Kiwis navigate their way to home-ownership through her work at the First Home Buyers Club, confirmed the sale to OneRoof, calling it a “fantastic result”, but was unable to disclose the identity of the purchaser.
The modern bathroom in the white church is a dramatic change from the outside toilet it had when Leslie Harris purchased the buildings. Photo / Supplied
The four bedrooms in the white church have been stylishly renovated in keeping with the character of the building. Photo / Supplied
Harris and her husband, Wayne Kelly, had bought the two buildings in 2017 for $1.32m. The properties were in a near-derelict state, and it took the couple six years and millions of dollars to turn them into eye-catching residences.
She told OneRoof in 2023, when she first listed the properties, that she had fallen in love with the buildings. “They are just extraordinary – the high ceilings. To get two churches on one site in New Zealand – I would never, ever get that again, so I just went for it.”
The wooden original chapel built in 1865, now referred to as the white church, was in a poor state and quickly became the priority. Some of the wood was rotten and it had to be reframed, but because of its heritage status, Harris and Kelly had to find a way to keep the cladding intact.
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The interior was then transformed into a four-bedroom home complete with a designer kitchen, high-spec tiled bathrooms and polished timber floors.
Once the white church was completed, they turned their attention to the red brick church. The 1920s brick building was given a New York loft-style facelift, with Harris and Kelly replacing all the windows and adding a new entrance.
The renovation blew the couple’s budget and saw them spending “millions”.
The red brick church was given a New York loft-style makeover. Photo / Supplied
The 1920s church has been configured into two bedrooms and a study. Photo / Supplied
Selling the churches hasn’t been easy, either.
Harris told OneRoof last year that she found a buyer not long after the properties hit the market, but the deal fell over after a year of waiting.
The buyer had to wait for the Commerce Commission to approve the sale of his business to an overseas company in order to release the necessary funds.
But the commission ruled against the business deal, saying it would significantly reduce competition in the market, and the buyer was forced to cancel his purchase.
“Every month we would go, ‘We are going to hear that we are unconditional’. But it wasn’t until the very end, in June this year, that we started to think, ‘Oh s***, the New Zealand Commerce Commission don’t look to be clearing this deal’. And then the deal got declined,” Harris said last year.
The churches had been pitched at a range of buyers, including those who wanted to run an Airbnb (one church was estimated to return an income of about $120,000 a year).
Harris told OneRoof in 2023 that the couple were selling to fund their next project, which would see her team up with her builder to design and build high-end, high-spec rammed earth homes.
- Click here to find more properties for sale in Devonport
