‘Brady Bunch’ House Remodel Project Has Neighbors Fuming At HGTV
When HGTV’s Property Brothers Jonathan and Drew Scott heard that the house featured in the classic 70s sitcom The Brady Bunch was up for sale, they jumped at the chance to scoop it up and work their magic. There was some drama related to the buy when NSYNC’s Lance Bass pursued the purchase only to lose out and report he felt used by HGTV to get raise the sale price. Now it seems there is a bit more drama associated with this Property Brothers remodel. TMZ reports that neighbors are balking at the prospect of what it all means. It’s no secret that filming for the popular show poses lots of inconveniences for neighbors as streets are blocked by the HGTV crew for several weeks. Between that and the inevitable extra attention their normally quiet neighborhood will receive as word of the Silver brothers’ remodel spreads, they’re none too happy about the whole thing.
The iconic home sits in San Fernando Valley in California and currently measures 2,400 square feet, but HGTV plans to build onto the back of the home and expand it to over 6,000 square feet. The network purchased the house for over $3 million. With that work will come work crews, Property Brothers fans hoping for a glimpse of the identical twins, and the crew associated with the show, all of which adds up to traffic congestion, noise, and other inconveniences for the duration of the remodel, which could be two to three months based on the typical length of a Silver brothers project.
Ernie Carswell was the listing agent according to the Los Angeles Times, and he reports that the home that was listed for $1.885 million sold for $3.5 million. The deal was closed Friday. Eight offers were received, the most public of which was Lance Bass of ’90s boy band NSYNC. Other offers were from corporations, stage and television producers, and other entertainers. HGTV was the only interested party that planned to make drastic changes to the home. Carswell explained that besides HGTV, other parties “intended to retain the front façade as a historic preservation, but most of them intended to renovate the interiors. No developer submitted a bid for the property.” HGTV hasn’t released details about plans for the Brady Bunch house project, but they have indicated that the Property Brothers will be provided with the home’s original blueprints.
Fans of the Brady Bunch may be surprised to know that the inside of the home is very different from what was seen on television screens. That’s because only views of the outside of the home were used in the show. Scenes of the Bradys inside their home were actually filmed in a studio. The San Fernando home includes two bedrooms and three bathrooms. The home was owned by George and Violet McCallister. They purchased it in 1973 for $61,000 and lived in it with their five sons. The McCallisters are now deceased, and the home was placed on the market by their sons.
