‘Rehab Addict’s Nicole Curtis Recalls Buying a Home for $1
What To Know
- Nicole Curtis reflected on purchasing and restoring a home for $1.
- The renovation, known as the “Dollar House,” was featured on Season 3 of HGTV’s Rehab Addict.
- Earlier this year, HGTV canceled Curtis’ show after footage of Curtis using a racial slur on set was leaked online.
Rehab Addict may have been canceled by HGTV, but Nicole Curtis is looking back fondly at one of her most interesting projects from the show.
“In 2011, I was fast at work on a restoration in LYNLAKE Minneapolis. A car pulled up and a guy got out,” Curtis began a Tuesday, April 14, Instagram post. “I was on a lift 3 stories up, he introduced himself and said, ‘They’re going to tear-down a bungalow down the street, we think you can save it.’ True story, I lowered the lift, hopped in his car and went to see it.”
According to Curtis, the home “was scheduled to be torn-down as the city engineers’ evaluation cited a crumbling foundation.” She added, “The sad thing was, once demolished, this lot would remain empty for eternity as the updated Minneapolis City Plan didn’t allow such ‘irregular’ lots for building. A vacant building in a neighborhood is bad, a forever vacant lot is a stigma and the worst.”
Curtis noted that the home’s demolition would have cost the city around $20,000. “Through Brian and his neighbor’s efforts, they sold it to me for a dollar as it was cheaper for the city to sell then to demo. You might think, what a bargain, but stay tuned for more of the story.”
Curtis’ post featured before-and-after photos of the property’s drastic transformation. “Saved and standing proud, again vs an empty lot that could have been never built on as it was considered ‘irregular,'” she wrote over a snap of the completed home.
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Fans shared their love for the project in the post’s comments. “I loved that you saved this house!” one user wrote. Another added, “This was a beautiful reno, but the I’ve loved every single home you keep [from] being torn down!”
Someone else shared, “I used to live in St. Paul, but moved to Chicago a few years before 2011, but watched you save this house on wherever it was playing back then. I love what you do. Lots of beautiful old houses on the Southside of Chicago that need saving, just sayin….I will always be a fan.” Another person posted, “Still one of my favorites! I swooned over that built in sideboard.”
A separate commenter gushed, “It’s truly amazing how you give a breath of life back into these old homes. I love and appreciate the restoration efforts. The up-cycling. Hard work and beautiful results.”
The renovation process for the home, dubbed the “Dollar House,” was documented on Season 3 of Rehab Addict in 2013. Shortly after the show’s ninth season returned from a months-long hiatus in February, HGTV canceled Rehab Addict after footage of Curtis using a racial slur during filming was leaked online. The series was subsequently pulled from several streaming services, but — as Curtis noted in her Tuesday Instagram post — is currently available to watch on Apple TV+ and Roku.
“I want to be clear: the word in question is wrong and not part of my vocabulary and never has been, and I apologize to everyone,” Curtis told TMZ in a statement at the time. In a February 17 Instagram post, Curtis claimed that the footage was leaked by “someone personal” who had access to it and demanded money. “I didn’t pay-here we are,” she shared.
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