Nicole Curtis has fired back, after being sued by the city of Minneapolis over a property that she reportedly bought for $2 (and that’s no typo).
Curtis, star of HGTV’s “Rehab Addict,” took to Facebook on Thursday to fire off an angry post claiming that she’s been “threatened and harassed regarding our work in Minneapolis” for the past two years.
“I fight for the underdog -always have, always will-never one to schmooze 😉 and for the past two years, I was threatened and harassed regarding our work in Minneapolis,” the post reads.
Curtis’ claim comes following news that the city of Minneapolis is suing Curtis’ company, Detroit Renovations LLC, over a Minneapolis property.
According to the lawsuit, Detroit Renovations purchased a tax-forfeited property for $2 in 2013 to develop it as a single-family home.
The lawsuit says that, under the contract, Detroit Renovations agreed to “make certain improvements … to the Property in substantial conformance with the construction plans submitted to and approved by the City.”
According to the suit, Detroit Renovations agreed to complete the improvements within a year of receiving the deed to the property.
However, the suit says, nearly three years after receiving the property, Detroit Renovations “has failed to redevelop the Property, has breached the terms of the Contract, and has failed to cure its default.” In addition to not completing the agreed-upon improvements, the lawsuit says, Detroit Renovations has also failed to pay real-estate taxes on the property and failed to maintain the required insurance.
In her Facebook post Thursday, Curtis said that there was “no financial gain” for her to complete work on the property, and she took it on “so that it would not be demolished.”
“There is no financial gain for me to complete [the property in question] but I took the house on so that it would not be demolished. No one else wanted it and it had been abandoned for two decades. The cost of demolition to taxpayers is approx. 20k.”
However, Curtis wrote, after applying for a building permit, Detroit Renovations was told that a $200,000 deposit would be required.
“Ever heard of that? Me neither. So there the project had sat,” Curtis wrote. “The City has spent time and resources blocking our plan for restoration-I have no answer for that.”
The HGTV star went on to note that it’s “not a secret that I’ve highlighted examples of inept moves by the current administration.”
“I’m not a glorified TV STAR as some refer to me-I’m a person who came forward with her money and a solution,” Curtis wrote.
“Rehab Addict” centers around Curtis’ efforts to preserve and restore properties that ,might otherwise be demolished, focusing on pre-World War II homes.