PATERSON — Burned-out and abandoned, the Victorian house at the corner of Auburn and Fair streets symbolized Paterson’s drug scourge so much that three years ago someone sprayed-painted “Crackadopia” across its side wall.
The addicts who gathered at 84 Auburn St. sometimes wouldn’t even bother to go inside the ramshackle and roofless building to get high. They simply hung out along the graffitied wall, where they smoked, snorted and injected their drugs right out in the open, in the daylight, almost oblivious to the passing traffic.
That was part of the reason Brian White, a novice real estate investor who grew up on a Central Jersey farm and lived in a wealthy Morris County town, decided to buy the building.
“I purchased the worst house in the city on purpose,” White said. “I wanted to do something that would really stand out.”
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After a makeover that took almost 30 months, White’s eyesore has become an eye-catcher. The front of the house features bay windows and two Greek columns on a small porch. Bright yellow fishscale-style tiles loom on the third floor. Lavender plants are growing along the side of the house and there’s a lawn in the backyard.
“He did an amazing job here,” said the Rev. John Algera, a community activist who championed improved housing in Paterson for many years, as he looked over the renovated building. “This is something that should be held up and celebrated. We want to see our city prosper and this is a good example of what it could be.”
White bought the property for $80,000 in 2017 and originally estimated the renovations would run him about $350,000. He cringed when asked last week what the work ended up costing him, putting the expense at more than $1 million.
“I overspent massively,” he said.
During the past month, tenants have moved into four of the six apartments, with the monthly rent for the one-bedroom units $1,600, the investor said. White originally planned to move into one of the apartments himself, but now he said he probably will rent them all out to help cover the higher-than-anticipated renovation spending.
As he puts the final touches on the building, White said he sleeps a few nights a week in one of the empty apartments. Recently he was awakened by gunfire. Someone had been shot and killed about a block away on Hamilton Avenue.
“It was so loud, I thought it happened right out here,” White said.
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Despite the transformation at 84 Auburn St., the surrounding 4th Ward neighborhood remains one of Paterson’s most troubled.
Paterson narcotics detectives have raided the house across the street multiple times in recent years, including one bust in November 2018 in which they arrested 82 people. That building at 83-85 Auburn St. remains a busy spot for drug sales. Just ask its owner, prominent Paterson developer Charles Florio.
“It’s worse than it’s ever been,” the landlord said of the narcotics trade at his property, asserting that his efforts to clear out the problem have been undermined by a lack of police intervention.
With skepticism and admiration, Florio has watched White renovate the house across the street. Florio says he owns buildings containing more than 2,000 apartments, many in Paterson’s worst neighborhoods.
“Paterson needs more people like Brian White who are willing to put a shovel in the ground,” Florio said. “I wish him luck. But it’s a tough area. I have shootings in my buildings all the time. He hasn’t really seen what’s going to happen yet.”
Florio acknowledged that he has a “different philosophy” in building housing in Paterson than the one White has followed at 84 Auburn. For example, Florio uses vinyl window frames while White installed the more expensive fiberglass casement variety.
“When a junkie throws a rock through one of his windows, he won’t be able to replace it,” Florio said.
White said he has 12 security cameras on his property. He also put a fence along the “Crackadopia” wall, which has forced the addicts who used to hang out there to find different spots. The graffiti has faded over the years, and White hasn’t gotten around to removing it yet.
Inside, White’s building is air-conditioned — even the hallway — and all the apartments come with washers and dryers, dishwashers, microwaves and refrigerators.
Ariel Gomez, a 31-year-old construction supervisor, moved into the building on Aug. 1. “I’ve been happy so far, I don’t regret it,” said Gomez, who came from Washington Heights in Manhattan.
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The tenant said he has noticed the drug activity on the block. “I mind my own business and no one has bothered me,” Gomez said. “I feel safe.”
White said the real estate broker handling the rentals has been upfront with prospective tenants about the area’s drug problem. “People will tolerate the drug use, but they won’t tolerate violence,” he said.
White owns several other properties in Paterson – all vacant lots in the same neighborhood. Paterson resident Mike Simpson said he has lived in the Auburn Street area for four decades, and recalled asking people to leave the “Crackadopia” wall before White fixed the place up.
“It’s beautiful now, it’s really brightened up,” Simpson said of White’s building. “This is something people really ought to respect.”
Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press. Email: editor@patersonpress.com
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