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The town of Bridgeville is once again in escrow.
Bruce McNaughton, a Realtor for Realty World Main Street, confirmed Monday that a southern California based housing development organization has agreed to purchase the town for the $1.3 million asking price, with its sights set on turning the eastern-Humboldt hamlet into a homeless rehabilitation center -- a move that might involve relocating the town's 30 or so residents.
Sitting about 40 miles east of Fortuna, nestled in a turn of the Eel River, Bridgeville shot to international fame in 2002, when it garnered the distinction of being the first town offered for sale on the Internet auction site eBay. An eBay sale never materialized, and Bruce Krall soon purchased the town, in conventional sale, and attempted to spruce it up before deciding he couldn't afford the necessary improvements and again putting the town on the market in 2006.
Daniel La Paille, a 25-year-old Los Angeles-based entertainment manager and college student, then purchased the town in August 2006 from Krall for $1.25 million and quickly endeared himself to the local community, aiming to rebuild the town as a place for his family to retire to. He whipped up support for the local school, employed the local work force and, residents said, started making Bridgeville feel like someplace special.
Things took a tragic turn in November 2006, when La Paille committed suicide in Los Angeles. After his death, La Paille's family decided to put
Since then, the town has met several prospective owners, but none that have been able or willing to call Bridgeville their own.
Now, McNaughton said he has opened escrow with Nabahood Community Development, Inc., a Pomona-based nonprofit organization that aims to turn Bridgeville into the New Beginnings SOR Homeless Rehabilitation Camp, a residential center that will help as many as 200 homeless people at a time.
McNaughton said Nabahood has yet to come up with the funds for a down payment or a deposit, but Darryl Johnson, the organization's executive director, is optimistic that will soon change and said it will be able to start putting funds into escrow next week.
Johnson said Nabahood, a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development(HUD)-certified organization, has a pretty large vision for the little town -- a vision he said may come with as much as a $75 million price tag.
Nabahood, Johnson said, is planning on building two large dormitory-like facilities in Bridgeville, one to house 100 men, the other to house 100 women, at opposite ends of town.
Nabahood will then bus in homeless people from a variety of central and southern California counties, Johnson said, each of which will give the organization a portion of its HUD funding. The homeless will then take part in a two-year program to get their lives back on track, Johnson said, and will have access to rehab, substance-abuse counseling, mental health and other services.
The program, according to Johnson, will teach life skills by employing its residents at the local post office and the local store, having them work with the volunteer fire department and doing a variety of other jobs around town.
The idea, Johnson said, is that after six months in the program, its residents will be able to move out of the dormitory-style housing and into transitional housing that will also be built in town. After another 18 months in transitional housing, Johnson said, the hope is that people will be ready to move out on their own, having saved enough money to help them find housing and get back on their feet.
However, Johnson said Nabahood's vision may not have room for those of the town's current residents who don't want to come work for the organization or participate in the program.
In those cases, Johnson said Nabahood, as a HUD-certified organization, would be able to fund residents' relocations.
There's also the case of Bridgeville Elementary School, which Johnson said might also have to be relocated on Nabahood's dime. But, that came as news to Mike Mullan, the school's superintendent and principal.
Mullan pointed out that the school is a completely separate entity from the town, and would not be involved in any real estate deal. If Nabahood has any plans for the school, Mullan said it's news to him.
”If they're talking about plans like that, they would obviously have to come to talk to us about those,” Mullan said.
With the town's water and sewer systems in horrible states of disrepair, Mullan also said Nabahood would be looking at plenty of necessary infrastructure improvements in town before erecting any dormitories or helping to get any lives back on track.
”They've got a lot of issues to overcome before then,” Mullan said.
The first seems to be getting together a down payment or a deposit.
Thadeus Greenson can be reached at 441-0509 or tgreenson@times-standard.com
