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'Rehab Addict' House Hits Market In Minneapolis After 5 Years

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A years-long back and forth between the city of Minneapolis and Nicole Curtis came to some kind of conclusion Sunday when the reality TV star held an open house for her north Minneapolis property.

Curtis, who hosts the HGTV show "Rehab Addict," said the open house is meant to raise money and awareness for Backpack Project MN, a nonprofit organization that provides backpacks filled with personal care items to homeless youth.

She bought the house from the city for $2 five years ago. After a lawsuit, liens for not paying contractors and complaints from neighbors, the home is finished and up for sale.

Katie Steiner talked to neighbors about the process of getting the home finished.

Nicole Curtis
(credit: CBS)

Jonathan Lundberg, who lives next door, says he has been waiting for her to finish the property.

"At this point, if we can get somebody living next door, the fact that it is a completed home, ready for occupancy, that's good," Lundberg said. "I've wanted that since the beginning."

The project began in 2013.

"Five years creates some frustration," Lundberg said. "An average rehab shouldn't take half a decade."

Lundberg works for a community development housing organization and says he knows how renovations normally work.

"The thing that bothers me too is being a part of that development world, there's an entirely different standard with celebrity than there is with a nonprofit," Lundberg said.

"One, I'm not a celebrity. Two, I own the houses, I put my own money in the houses, it's my construction company, I do the work," Curtis said. "If you think that I can slide by and somebody's going to slide a permit or an inspection because it's me – no, they are going to make sure that the T's are crossed, the I's are dotted because it is me and the houses are publicized. So no, that's just crazy."

Lundberg said he is just excited that the house is done.

"We want a family, we want somebody to move in next door that can be a part of this community. And we can move on from that, put this all behind us," Lundberg said. "Yeah, I think it will be a really great thing."

Curtis did not allow any pictures of the inside of the house to be taken Sunday.

The Star Tribune reports the house is priced at $425,000.

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