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Donated Helena home will be remodeled and sold as affordable housing
A residence up a hill on Helena’s Westside — where Christian Frazza, director of the Corette Library at Carroll College, tended to his garden, built canoes and did wood and metal work — will soon serve as a place that two families will call home.
Helena Area Habitat for Humanity on Monday announced a donor gifted the 1000 Choteau St. home to the organization. Plans are to add two bedrooms to the existing 2,600-square-foot home, giving it four bedrooms, and then build a 1,182-square-foot, two-bedroom home in the back.
“This is a nice place,” said Liz Harrison, director of development for Helena Area Habitat Humanity, as she sat inside the home along with members of CWG Architects + Interiors.
Frazza died in 2020 and left his house to longtime companion Sue Jackson, who then decided to make the house a donation to the nonprofit, saying she had volunteered for them and knows of their quality work, Habitat officials said.
“What was especially meaningful to me in donating the property to Helena Area Habitat for Humanity was the prospect of the lasting impact this project could have in Helena, encouraging others to consider new ways of helping more people afford homes of their own,” she said in a news release.
Jacob Kuntz, executive director of Helena Area for Humanity, said this is the first home that has been donated in his seven years in Helena. He said they have had land donated, but not homes.
“We were absolutely stunned,” he said, adding the homeowner approached Habitat last year.
The home is appraised at $350,000, which is $100,000 more than when Jackson first contacted Habitat about making a donation, Kuntz said.
“She was very committed to having this home loved by a family,” he said.
Kuntz said the homes will be sold for $170,000 to $190,000.
“Appraisals don’t matter to us, what matters to us is affordability,” he said.
He expected the homes to be put up for sale in 2022 to two Habitat homebuyers and the land will be deeded to Trust Montana, a statewide land trust. The trust will ensure the homes remain permanently affordable, Kuntz said.
Habitat is joining with CWG Architects + Interiors to renovate the home, with a two-bedroom, one-bathroom home built on an existing detached garage foundation.
The home has an unfinished basement where Frazza once built canoes, which will be finished, and two bedrooms and a bathroom will be added, officials said.
Kory Kennaugh of CWG said the home was really a good candidate for a remodel.
“The main house is a wonderful house,” he said. “The basement lends itself well, because it is a blank slate.”
Cassidy Blanton, marketing coordinator at CWG, said Jackson wanted to make sure the outdoor space remained usable, especially the “Zen garden” in front.
Kennaugh said there was also discussion that the new building should not block the view of the existing house.
Blanton said each home will have its own identity that will fit in with the upper Westside of town.
Kuntz said financing for the project will come from a combination of funds, such as Habitat’s ReStore in Helena, local donations, the sale of the houses and federal grants.
“Though the Choteau house was donated, we are doing quite a bit on it to make sure it is a permanent investment in the community,” he said, adding they hope to break even on the project.
“There are no grants or outside finding subsidy in the project, so the donation allowed us to think big and long term with what we wanted to accomplish,” Kuntz said.
Harrison said this is the kind of philanthropy that is very unusual, adding this home comes at a time when housing is so expensive.
“Our commitment is that it is permanently affordable,” she said.