Historic NSW church-turned-cafe yours for $1.5m

It’s not every day you come across an historic church where you can grab a flat white and a piece of cake.

And it’s even rarer when you can walk in and buy both the property and the business.

Just $1.5 million is all it will cost you to come away with your own stunning converted riverside church with a fully operational and profitable cafe inside it at Broadwater, just 25km south of Ballina and a little further from Byron Bay, along some of New South Wales’ most coveted coastline.

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And according to selling agent Paddy Wallington from First National Byron, there’s significant scope to expand the unique property’s offering almost immediately.

The church sits along the Pacific Highway at Broadwater on a significant block of land.

“It presents a wealth of opportunity for the next owners, whoever they may be. There’s a whole lot of development potential – it sits on an acre of land near the river,” Wallington says.

“It’s got the possibility of becoming a function and events centre. The owners are in the process of applying for the council permits for that.”

“It’s one of those properties that you quite often see on a tree change or sea change-type show, for people who want to get out of the city and do something completely different.”

The former St Columbkille’s church, which sits on about 4000sqm of land along the Pacific Highway, was originally built in 1890 before being damaged and rebuilt in the early 1900s.

Inside the former St Columbkille’s church.

Today the heritage listed former place of worship operates as a quaint but memorable tourist destination and pit stop, Our Daily Bread, which has run from the church for more than six years after being lovingly converted and restored by the current owners.

While Wallington says the significant block of land’s highest use could be as a wedding or events centre, a development application has also been approved to build a three-bedroom, three-storey residence attached to the church.

“Whoeever takes it on needs to have some sort of vision in order to maximise its earning capacity,” he says.

The cafe, Our Daily Bread, has been operating from the church for six years.

“One of the things the owners had considered is putting some sort of holiday accommodation, bungalows or something on the site, to make it a destination point rather than just somewhere for a coffee and cake.”

“If someone’s got the vision to repurpose it, as a functions and events centre it could be something really good.”

“It’s just one of those unique properties that you don’t see every day.”

They restored it by hand, essentially.

It’s not every day a church comes along that’s being used as a cafe, so it’s a unique proposition.