The attention and notoriety that HGTV’s “Windy City Rehab” has received over the last year can either be seen as a boon or a nail in its coffin. The latest: host Alison Victoria Gramenos has offered to buy back a house from a couple who were featured on the show, and who are now suing for tens of thousands of dollars they spent on repairs, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Gramenos said she would even live in the home.
In the days after Anna and James Morrissey purchased the 4,000-square-foot Lincoln Square property, they experienced a slew of problems from a severe leak to improperly installed roof and windows. The couple purchased the home at 2308 W. Giddings Street for $1.4 million and say they spent $80,000 to fix the ‘plagued’ home.
The Morrisseys filed suit against Gramenos and her ex-partner, Donovan Eckhardt, to have the sale reversed and to be compensated for the repairs.
But that isn’t the only problem the reality show has faced. Chicago slapped “Windy City Rehab” with stop-work orders for violations of multiple construction codes. Some of those were eased in recent months. Gramenos also dropped Eckhardt and his development company from the show, and said she would finish the remaining episodes and projects on her own.
And to tie up another loose end, she has made her offer to buy the Morrisseys’ home, and is seeking to dismiss their lawsuit.
“She is interested in buying the house back and she would be glad to join the neighborhood,” Gramenos’ lawyer, Dan Lynch, told the Sun-Times. [Sun-Times] — Jacqueline Flynn