Uniting Church lists Geelong's St Andrew's, agents expect about $2m

The St Andrew’s Uniting Church at 70 Sydney Parade in central Geelong was listed for sale last week, and agents expect the 1327sq m corner holding to fetch about $2m, realcommercial.com.au reported on 3 November 2026. Savills agents Mathew George and Tim Grant are running an expressions-of-interest campaign for the site.

Why it matters

Services ended three years ago. The building shut in 2023 when its congregation combined into the new St Albans-St Andrews church at St Albans Park. Steel fencing and timber boards have guarded its windows since. Its General Residential 4 zone is designed to encourage a wider mix of housing, the report said. The hospital precinct nearby has a women’s and children’s facility being built, which will add to the training hospital’s medical and nursing workforce. Likely bidders include redevelopers, another church or community group, and buyers chasing business or residential uses, the report said. Savills’ Mathew George said a buyer could be a developer or an owner-occupier, and that the site’s proximity to the hospital was key. For Geelong developers, it is a central corner site with residential zoning offered by a church owner.

The numbers

The property totals 1327sq m at the corner of Sydney Parade and Sydney Avenue, with Admiral Place also leading to Geelong’s hospital precinct. Local architects Laird and Buchan designed the building, which opened in 1912 as the second St Andrews Presbyterian Church. A stone veneer added in 1961 gave it its mid-century look. On site are a main auditorium, a hall, a Sunday school room and support facilities. A marble obelisk to the Reverend Andrew Love, the city’s first Presbyterian minister, first stood in Yarra Street before being shifted to Sydney Parade.

What’s next

The expressions-of-interest campaign is under way, with the report describing the buildings as well suited to adaptive reuse across a diverse range of alternative uses. “It’s a huge site that can probably lend itself if the council were reasonable and allow someone to redevelop it,” Mr George said. He added that demolishing a couple of the low-roof buildings at the rear could create some off-street car parking, and suggested a home office or corporate office as other options. The campaign follows another central Geelong commercial listing, the $7m-plus Maxwell Collins head office site, which went to market in October.