Secretive Plymouth Brethren selling Melbourne properties
The wealthy religious group the Plymouth Brethren is selling more of its extensive property portfolio in Melbourne, most recently offloading a disused meeting hall in Werribee, about 32 kilometres west of the city.
The 4446-square-metre vacant site at 138 Werribee Street North exchanged for $2.59 million after being listed mid-year seeking offers in excess of $2 million.
Interest was mainly from residential townhouse developers, according to YPA Estate Agents broker James Antonino. But it was a Sydney investor who acquired the site, which has the potential to generate a rental income.
The property includes parking for about 100 cars and a meeting hall capable of seating about 400 people, which could be reconfigured into an office, community or retail services space, such as a child care complex or medical centre.
The hall in Werribee has parking for about 100 cars. Photo: Supplied
The Brethren is also selling an ex-Ferntree Gully meeting hall via McGraths Waverley.
Formerly known as the Exclusive Brethren before a name change in 2012, the group’s places of worship often include shuttered windows, cyclone fencing and padlocked gates and are typically not branded.
Hours of worship can start at 6am on weekdays and end at 9pm on weekends.
Despite community objection, the Brethren have in the past two years developed two mega churches, including a 2000-person venue in Diamond Creek, north east of Melbourne, and a place of worship capable of accommodating 650 followers in Lisarow, about eight kilometres north east of Gosford on the NSW Central Coast.
Prior to developing new state headquarters in Diamond Creek, the group was predominant around Glenroy, north of Melbourne, where it occupied seven sites within a two-kilometre radius.
It added value to some of these Glenroy sites by obtaining residential redevelopment permits before offering them to residential developers. Its former headquarters – a factory hidden behind a long driveway at 8-10 Walter Street – sold to Melbourne builder Joe Salvo in 2013 for $6.6 million with a permit for more than 35 townhouses.
In late 2005 the Supreme Court of Queensland ruled the Brethren should not be eligible for property rate exemptions claimed in the 1990s because private church services did not fit the category of public worship.
