Eighty-year-old kinder facing eviction as church eyes lucrative sale

Another community kindergarten in Melbourne’s inner south-east is facing closure with its institutional landlord – one of Australia’s biggest churches – eying a sale of the valuable site to developers.

Gardiner Preschool, which has been on St Andrews Lane in Glen Iris for 80 years, has been given notice by the Uniting Church to vacate by the end of 2025.

Children playing at Gardiner Preschool, which faces closure at the end of next year.Credit: Joe Armao

The religious institution has flagged its intention to sell the land at the market rate.

The closure of Gardiner would worsen the shortage of childcare places in Glen Iris and Malvern, according to local council Stonnington, which says it is “very concerned” about access to early childhood education for families in the area.

The council has joined parents and workers at the kinder in pleading with the church’s Victorian and Tasmanian synod to reconsider the sale.

But the institution appears determined to dispose of the property. It told The Sunday Age that a sale has been flagged since 2018 and that the synod had made efforts to minimise disruption to the children at Gardiner.

The Uniting Church said it had made efforts to minimise disruption to the children at Gardiner.Credit: Joe Armao

A church spokesperson said Uniting would be willing to sell the site to the preschool at “market value”.

Another nearby community-sector kinder, The Windsor Community Children’s Centre, faces a similar fate. Its landlord, Swinburne University, is also looking to clear the site of its present occupants at the end of next year and sell it off to developers.

The position at Windsor starkly illustrates the economic challenge facing non-profit kindergartens in Melbourne’s inner suburbs, where soaring land values threaten to price out community-sector occupants.

The Windsor property is valued by Stonnington at less than $3.5 million. But as a vacant and rezoned development site, the land could be worth nearly four times that amount – up to $13.8 million.

Stonnington has expressed an interest in buying the site at its present value to keep the kinder in place, but officials at the cash-strapped local authority advised its councillors on Monday that it is “difficult to make the argument” to the university for a sale at the lower price.

Stonnington resolved on Monday to ask the state government for financial help to acquire the property and keep the centre open.

A spokesperson for Swinburne said on Friday that it had heard nothing yet from the council.

No valuations are available for the Gardiner site and the Uniting Church would not disclose what it considered “market value” for the land.

“We have worked with the preschool to ensure that children presently in three-year-old kindergarten may complete their four-year-old program in 2025, and have explained the reasoning behind the site not being available for the preschool’s use unless it was to be acquired at market value by the preschool or another purchaser willing to continue the arrangement,” a spokesperson for the church said.

“The Uniting Church in Australia Synod of Victoria and Tasmania understands the concerns, but after an extended period of advance notice of our need to dispose of the site, there is no further tenancy possible after the end of 2025.”

A campaign by Windsor Community Children’s Centre parents – lobbying state and federal governments and persuading Stonnington to help oppose Swinburne’s rezoning application – is under way, and now the Gardiner centre’s community is also beginning to mobilise.

The preschool’s president, Claire Saliba, said eviction from the St Andrews Place property would mean the end of the 80-year-old service.

“If we can’t get the church to reconsider, or if something can’t be done, then the kinder will have to shut its doors forever,” Saliba said.

Local mother Jaclyn Fahey says Gardiner, which worked around her son Theodore’s cancer treatment to deliver his kinder program this year, was a vital community asset.

“Gardiner treats their kids and parents like family, and we felt that,” Fahey said.

“If Gardiner ceases to exist it will leave a gaping hole in the community and impact families across the region.”

Claire Saliba with Gardiner children. The kinder faces closure at the end of 2025.Credit: Joe Armao

A Stonnington spokesperson said the council was working to try to save Gardiner.

“Gardiner Preschool has been part of the local community for 80 years,” they said.

“Council wrote to The Uniting Church in May, asking it to reconsider its intention to sell the property on which Gardiner Preschool is located.

“The council is committed to investigating ways to keep Gardiner Preschool at its current location.”

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