About

Brief History of City Campus

• After planting the church in 1999 at Thorrington Primary School, in 2001 we started leasing Ferry Rd.

• Nine more years of growing attendance and renovations we also leased Unit 4 to create more kids space.

• 2010 bought Ferry Rd building for $1m and insured it after the September earthquake for $2.4m.

• February 2011 earthquakes damaged the building. We held services at South West Baptist in Lyttelton St for three years.

• 2012 the Ferry Rd site was sold for land value.

• Contacted new owner in 2013 and agreed on a plan to structurally strengthen it and lease it back.

• March 2014 we moved back in and a few months later settled with our insurer for $2.4m.

A Series of Miracles

• Tuam St reluctant vendor very rarely sells property - agrees to sell to us in July 2014 in a negotiated and ‘off market’ deal at $6m.

• November 2014 Baptist Savings agree to a loan of $3.5m, insurance secured, valuation comes in at $6.02m.

• December 01, 2014 sale goes through.

• Within 36 months $3.5m loan is repaid in full.

We’ve been able to attract and retain good commercial tenants paying market rent that not only covers landlord costs like rates, insurance, and maintenance but also contributes annually toward our savings goals to complete the fit-out.

How Much Will It Cost?

Our Project Manager Joe Stradwick has been working with a large commercial construction firm in Christchurch to establish a realistic build budget of $14.5m (as at Sept 2021). 

One of the benefits of raising the money quickly is reducing construction cost inflation. We do have the ability to borrow money if needed but would prefer to raise the money ourselves, finish the fit-out then move in as quickly as possible with as little debt as possible.

When Can We Move In?

The simple answer is – the faster we can raise the money the faster we can move in. Below is a rough project timeline showing that we could be in and using the building at the end of 2025/beginning of 2026.

Meeting (or exceeding) our giving goals is the best way to speed up the process of getting the fit-out done and moving in.

What are the Next Steps?

As we reach our giving targets, we’ll move through the stages of final developed design, building consent/ documentation and finally appointing contractors to begin construction.

The sooner we can raise the capital needed to build Stage One the sooner we can move in.