Paeroa is 'world famous in New Zealand' for a soft drink, but a 24-year-old from Auckland liked it for another reason. By Auckland standards, property there was cheap.
He targeted the town's most notorious street, buying house after house on it. Porrit St – though locals renamed it Harlem.
And now, Porrit St has changed. Police say its least pleasant residents have largely left.
That's good, right?
Except now there is some resentment that an outsider owns so many houses in the street.
Laurence Pope has bought 14 of its houses, nearly half of them. He has transformed what was once the most notorious street in town.
"It was terrible," says Mr Pope. "I didn't even feel comfortable standing in the street, felt like I shouldn't even be here, just the vibe of the neighbourhood."
He felt so uncomfortable, he photographed houses he wanted to buy from his car. Even then he was not safe.
"I was rammed, and told in no uncertain terms to stay out of the street... I thought, bugger you, I'm not going anywhere."
The tenant of the first house he bought had gang affiliations.
"It was a complete disaster," says Mr Pope. "We had a look through the house – motorcycle in the lounge, rubbish in the kitchen... I would say a sane would have left at that point."
He bought that house and then three others, and hired a small team of workers to do them up.
They were good buys at $100,000 each – about half the average house price in Paeroa.
The locals resented an outsider moving into their neighbourhood. A shotgun was waved at one of the workers.
And Mr Pope's builder, Tom, had the house he had moved into trashed.
There is still some resentment in the street about Mr Pope's buy-up, but 18 months later he can safely stand in the street and point out what he owns.
He says it is not just about making money.
"This street was somewhere where no one would want to live. Now it's somewhere when time comes there'll be opportunity for people to buy these houses and move into a fantastic neighbourhood."
"I just think it's amazing what young Laurence has done here and it's a real credit to a young fella to actually really have the commitment... Council couldn't have done it, I don't believe council can go in, start buying property to start turning a street around," says John Tredgidger, Hauraki District Mayor.
Porrit St is now a much quieter place to live, though no one is under the illusion that this is solving Paeroa's social problems, even if this one street has changed.
"Prior to this development we were being called on a regular basis, and now we don’t," says Sergeant Phil Caldwell of Paeroa Police.
And the make-over of Porrit St has also changed the council's attitude towards it. In the past it would not have spent money on it, as they do now.
"We certainly put the new street lighting in, we just put in 20 roading boys, and we're looking at putting in new tree planting, which we wouldn't have even thought of doing six months ago."
Laurence Pope has taken a risk. At one point he did not have a single one of his 14 houses rented, and he has only got through with money from other business interests.
That one person should own so many houses and cause so much change is bound to cause friction, but he's proud of his project.
"From what it was 18 months ago to what it is today... It's gone from street that was a thorn in backside of a community to a street they can be proud of."
The reason Laurence Pope first went down to Paeroa was because he thought the provinces were a better bet for good buys than Auckland. And those first houses he bought for $100,000 are now valued at $160,000 – and with property prices holding in Paeroa, his punt is looking good.
source: newshub archive
