21 November 2023
By Hannah Wilcox
The Chinese Christian Church in Milsons Point has bought a nearby storefront with plans to turn it into a supplementary education and work space.
Located at 102 Alfred Street South, the space remains as a vacant commercial premises and was purchased by the CCC in April.
It consists of 144 square metres of floor space over two levels, with a toilet, reception and storage area on the ground floor and a toilet and balcony on the first level. The space also has rear courtyards on both levels, and two designated parking spaces in the underground carpark.
A DA is currently before Council although plans do not include any physical alterations. Rather, the CCC looks to transform it for the purpose of ancillary functions for a place of public worship – including church offices, meeting rooms and general classroom activities for Sunday School and Bible study group programs.
The CCC is looking to use the site from 8am to 5pm on Sundays, then 9am to 5pm for the rest of the week.
Services will continue to be run at the church which is located virtually next door.
Prior to the church purchasing the site earlier this year, a DA was filed to alter the ground floor commercial tenancy and convert the first floor into a two bedroom apartment. This was approved by the North Sydney Local Planning Panel in March 2022, then modified further eight months later to allow for internal reconfiguration and the removal of three windows.
It has not been activated since its success and will lapse in March 2027.
Several internal repartitioning works have been proposed that will be undertaken under a separate CDC process to bring it into compliance with regulations for the church’s intended purpose.
The application was created by Ethos Urban and remains before the planning panel.