Soho Apartments settlement Wellington

[landlord1990]

Did these dodgy types have fake tans and shiny hair? if so you were probably saved by the bell!

[spurner]

Someone was right on the money by saying Soho would be full of pimps, prostitutes and P addicts. Maybe murderers can now be added to the list?

I think with this type of building, something like this tragedy was always inevitable, however I am surprised how little time it took, a lot of the apartments are yet to even be occupied.

Body found in Wellington apartment block

Police are investigating the death of a man after his body was found in an inner city Wellington apartment block this morning.

Police have carried out a scene examination at the Soho apartments after emergency services were called to the Egmont St building at around 8.30am.

Detective Inspector Paul Basham says police are still investigating the circumstances around this death.

He says investigators and forensic experts have spent much of the day carrying out a scene examination and the area will remain cordoned off overnight.

"The body of this young man is yet to be formally identified however it has been removed for a post-mortem examination which will be carried out tomorrow."

He urged anyone who may have seen or heard anything unusual overnight in the vicinity of Egmont, Ghuznee or Dixon St to phone Police on the Crimestoppers free phone line 0800 555 111.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crim...partment-block

[spurner]

Mystery of teen's body in Wellington alley

Piercing screams were heard coming from a central Wellington alley hours before a mystery teenager's body was discovered there, locals say.

Residents in the new 16-storey Soho Apartments were in shock yesterday after the body of a man, aged in his late teens, was found behind the building in Egmont St about 8.30am.

It is understood the man had moved into a flat on the eighth floor of the block on Saturday.

Detective Inspector Paul Basham, of Wellington CIB, said police were still working to identify the teen and how he died.

He refused to comment on speculation by residents that the man was attacked in the alley, or had jumped or fallen from a balcony on the 326-apartment building.

Mr Basham hoped an autopsy today would shed some light on the death.

A resident who would only give his name as Jo said residents believed the man had fallen from an eighth-floor balcony.

"He had just moved in yesterday. It was his first day."

Jo spoke to the man while he was on his balcony on Saturday, when three people moved into the two-bedroom apartment.

Jo lives on the 10th floor, almost directly above the apartment from which the man was believed to have fallen.

Although there was a strong police presence in the building and Egmont St yesterday, Jo said neither he nor his flatmates had been questioned.

It sounded as if there had been a party in a lower-level apartment on Saturday night, but there were often parties in the building, he said.

One Soho resident, mother-of-two Louisa Cameron, said she heard screams that seemed to be coming from Egmont St when she got up to feed her baby in the early hours of Sunday morning.

"There was a lot of yelling, you could hear a woman screaming and crying, trying to stop something. It was really loud," she said.

"I thought it was just drunk people so I didn't bother to look. The building is secure but it's still freaky, we've only been living here two days."

Another resident who lives in a lower-level apartment that looks out on Egmont St told The Dominion Post he heard what sounded like a fight outside his bedroom window early on Sunday.

Then, about 8am, there was another scream, about the time the body was discovered.

"The next thing I heard were sirens all over the place ... police were everywhere." The man said many students lived in the area and Egmont St was regularly used as a thoroughfare by young people.

One woman said she saw police taking samples from an apartment and the stairwell on the first floor yesterday. There had been a very rowdy and drunken party on the first floor on Saturday night. "Normally this is a really nice place to live," she said.
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Forensic experts and police worked extensively at the scene yesterday, and Egmont St, which runs between Dixon and Ghuznee streets was cordoned off for most of the day.

Police want to hear from anyone who saw or heard anything unusual. Crimestoppers: 0800 555 111

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crim...llington-alley

[graemeh]

Someone was right on the money by saying Soho would be full of pimps, prostitutes and P addicts. Maybe murderers can now be added to the list?

I think with this type of building, something like this tragedy was always inevitable, however I am surprised how little time it took, a lot of the apartments are yet to even be occupied.

You left out solo mums.

I think you're jumping to conclusions here. Wait until you know what happened.

People have fallen from balconies before, sometimes in very up market areas. They have also been killed in similar areas too.

[partya]

The Dom Post

A teenager was left traumatised after discovering the lifeless body of his best friend, who fell from an eighth-floor apartment.
Marcus Blackbourn has hardly slept since he came across Dushan Saddlier Pouao, 18, lying beside a ground-floor fire exit of the new Soho Apartments in central Wellington on Sunday morning.
Mr Pouao, from Porirua, was drinking with about six other friends in the flat before he disappeared about 11pm on Saturday.
It was assumed he had gone to meet a cousin in town, which was why his friends did not worry when he vanished.
When he was not back in the morning, they thought he had forgotten the pass-code to get into the building.
Mr Blackbourn went for a swim in the complex's pool around 8am the following morning and came across the body.
"I was dumbfounded, I didn't know how he could have got there," he told The Dominion Post.
"It was clear he was dead. He was cold and stiff and he had blood around his head. I wish I never saw it, I couldn't believe it. You shouldn't have to see your best mate like that.
"I'm still shocked ... it hasn't sunk in."
Mr Blackbourn, also 18, had been a friend of Mr Pouao since they got to know each other in the third form at Porirua's Aotea College. He described his friend – nicknamed Possum – as a completely harmless and likeable guy with a cheeky sense of humour.
"He was an all-round good fella. It wasn't too hard to get along with him if you just met him. He loved to party ... [and] he was always keen for the girls. He just loved life."
Mr Blackbourn admitted the group had been drinking since about 5pm on Saturday but said they were not legless.
Mr Pouao loved the view from the top of the 16-storey apartment complex and Mr Blackbourn thought he may have tried to go up there. "I just really want to know what happened. Whether he jumped, or slipped or got pushed off, I don't know. But I'm sure it was an accident.
"I can't understand why he would want to jump off. We were saving up money to go to the Gold Coast next year ... he kept hassling me to get a job so we could save up and go.
"And he would never do that to his little brothers and sisters."
Mr Pouao's grieving family could not be contacted yesterday. An autopsy was performed yesterday and it is understood his funeral will be later this week.
Detective Inspector Paul Basham said the dead man's family were distraught but had visited the scene briefly on Sunday night before the body was taken away.
Police were still talking with residents in and around Egmont St and the Soho Apartments yesterday but would not comment on possible causes of death. They believed the man's body had been in Egmont St overnight Saturday and would be viewing CCTV footage from the building.

[CJ]

People have fallen from balconies before, sometimes in very up market areas.

Like the guy who thought he could jump of a Princes Wharf apartment and make the water. He couldn't.

[graemeh]

Like the guy who thought he could jump of a Princes Wharf apartment and make the water. He couldn't.

I bet he only made that mistake once!

Probably also didn't think about what happens when he hits the water from that height either.

[speights boy]

Has anyone had any first hand experience with a default on a homebond? I quite possibly will be in this situation very shortly with a Soho apartment.

According to their website, one of these home bond companies has lost the support of their underwriter, and so currently not accepting new applications for deposit bonds.

[muppet]

Anybody know who the two buyers vieing to seal Soho deal?

[speights boy]

Think that may be the Auckland Soho muppett, ie the Strategic Finance hole in the ground.

SB

[muppet]

So ho there are two lots not doing terribly well.

[halfempty]

According to their website, one of these home bond companies has lost the support of their underwriter, and so currently not accepting new applications for deposit bonds.

New Zealand Homebonds have lost their insurer but are working on a deal to get a new insurer.
But you have to wonder what made them lose it in the first place.

[halfempty]

I spoke to my property manager today and he said he had 35 soho's to rent 2 weeks ago and only had 2 left.

I'm not sure at what sort of level they are renting at but it looks like the market has washed up most of the units.