Ghost town in the heart of Wellington

Historic precinct a haunt of drunks and prostitutes

ROBERT KITCHIN/The Dominion Post

HERITAGE: The Tonks family in front of the oldest house (1860's) in the new Tonks Grove development after the bypass.

ROSS GIBLIN/The Dominion Post

GHOST TOWN: A row of restored, relocated houses from Tonks Ave and Kensington St line the inner-city bypass along Karo Dr.

ROSS GIBLIN/The Dominion Post

EMPTY: The house with the veranda was originally 270 Cuba st.

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A $3 million upgrade of the Tonks heritage area in central Wellington has turned it into a wasteland for boozers, drug addicts and prostitutes.

The family whose name is synonymous with the precinct - one of the capital's earliest European settlements - said plans to return there had been ditched because of the unruly element that had taken over.

The Tonkses have shelved plans to buy one of the old houses and are worried that another could be lost at the hands of arsonists.

Tonks Grove was created when government road builder Transit New Zealand saved 19 historic buildings as part of Wellington's inner-city bypass project.

But the buildings, including five in Tonks Grove, have sat vacant for up to two years.

About $3 million of the total $40 million project cost had been spent relocating and restoring the buildings, which are also clustered nearby in Willis and Kensington streets.

Though the exteriors have been restored, the interiors remain bare. Utilities, such as power and water, are not connected.

Kylie Williams, who lives in one of just three inhabited houses, said the unoccupied buildings had turned the area into a ghost town - "just like a vacant theme park". It had attracted the homeless, streetkids, and older teenage louts.

Another resident, Catherine Preitner, said there had been a succession of unwelcome visitors drunk or on drugs.

"A week ago a couple were fornicating on the gravel alongside the house."

She said the area was also being used as a cruising ground by prostitutes.

"They used to take clients around to the car park [behind Toi Poneke Wellington Arts Centre in Abel Smith St], but exterior lights have been put up there, so now they come around here."

Local people say that a burnt-out house in nearby Footscray Ave, where Upper Hutt GP Marko Kljakovic suffered terrible burns in an accident last year, provides a meeting place for undesirables.

A spokesman for Wellington City Council said the derelict home was a listed heritage building that required resource consent to be demolished. It was likely that a consent would be issued in the next few weeks.

Detective Senior Sergeant Paul Borrell, of Wellington CIB, said burglaries at high-rise buildings had increased in the past two weeks, which could be linked to people gathering in the Tonks Grove area.

Transit's project spokeswoman, Jonnette Adams, said the agency had security monitoring in the area and the buildings were alarmed, but it would revise its security measures as a result of complaints.

In 1997, Transit said it owned 113 properties worth $25 million on the bypass route.

Because the houses were acquired by the Government for the project, they must first be offered back to their original owners, or their descendants, before they can be sold.

This has proved to be a complex process but Ms Adams said there was light at the end of the tunnel. "We're not yet at the point of being able to offer any properties back ... however, this should not be too far away."

Transit was also required to check with the Maori Land Court before disposing of the buildings.

Another reason that the properties remained unoccupied was that the interiors had not been refurbished. Transit had left them like this to allow new occupiers to add their own touches.

Mayor Kerry Prendergast praised Transit for the quality of the refurbishments but called on the Government to simplify the buy-back process.

"It is ridiculous that these things take so long.

"There are lost opportunities in terms of income for Transit but also for those homes that are beautifully restored which could be used as family homes, or for businesses that are appropriate for the area."

- © Fairfax NZ News