Struck the jack-pot: Bowls club sells for $10 million

The 5107sqm land at 5 Donald Place, just off St Albans St, sold for $10m. Photo / Supplied

The former site of the St Albans Bowling Club, in Christchurch's dress circle suburb of Merivale, has sold for $10 million dollars.

The 5107sq m land at 5 Donald Place, just off St Albans St, has been bought by a Canterbury development company for residential housing.

Elmwood Park Bowling Club president Peter Smith said it "marks the end of an era".

"It will be a sad day for the St Albans members of which there are not many left, said Smith, but it is progress,"

Elmwood Park Bowling Club president Pete Smith. Photo / Geoff Sloan

The site, with a 60m frontage onto Donald Pl, is located within 200m of Merivale Mall and 3.5km from the city.

When put up for sale investment sales specialist Courtney Doig, of Colliers in Christchurch, said that there were few such parcels of land available in Merivale.

"There is a real lack of large-scale development sites remaining in this tightly held Merivale position. The Residential Medium Density zoning makes it ripe for a variety of uses and we've seen how much demand there is for well-located bare land in Christchurch.

The merger of the Elmwood Park and St Albans bowling clubs prompted the sale.

The two clubs had joined forces in 2018 and been using both facilities. They will now be solely based on Elmwood's nearby Heaton St site.

The planned new clubrooms. Photo / Supplied

"We will end up with a new $3.5m new pavilion in Elmwood Heaton Street park which will be great," Smith added

The old club building at Elmwood Park was set for demolition.

The concept plan for the new building. Photo / Supplied

A new and improved single-storeyed building that has received resource consent will be built in its place.