A two-story house at 137 Montgomery Ave. in Bremerton is set to get a Habitat for Humanity makeover.
The hope is that the effects of the makeover will spread like wildfire throughout the entire neighborhood as part of Habitat’s nationwide Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative. It’s the first effort of its kind for Habitat of Kitsap County and is the result of a donation of the $80,000 property from Sunwest Bank.
“This particular home, the reason we’re really excited is because this home is more than just a rehab for one family,” said Daryl Daugs, director of Habitat for Humanity of Kitsap County.
The nationwide Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative was started several years ago and entails Habitat working with cities, counties and social services agencies to target neighborhood blight and work with those neighborhoods to revitalize them.
“And it’s a combination of things,” said Daugs. “In some cases it’s helping them spruce up their homes, in some areas it’s a rehab like this one or an empty lot with no home on it or a park or sidewalk repair. What we will be doing, beginning with this project, is working with the City of Bremerton and starting to have conversations with the neighborhood around us and the people who live in those homes, talking with them about what they would like to see their neighborhood look like in three to five years.”
Sunwest Bank is headquartered in Irvine, California, and has 11 regional branches across the West Coast, the closest of which is in University Place. They are primarily a commercial bank and have more than $800 million in assets. Over the past three years, Sunwest Bank has invested more than $1.5 million in community and charitable programs, helping more than 51 organizations that provide a range of services that include housing, healthcare, food, safety and education to underprivileged individuals, especially children.
The bank purchased the Bremerton home when it acquired a failing bank and is now renting the house. The tenants will stay for another year before Habitat begins to rehab the structure.
“This is a very exciting time and a win-win for the bank and Habitat for Humanity,” said John Tellenback, executive vice president and chief banking officer for Sunwest. “That’s especially true knowing we are basically the cornerstone of the neighborhood revitalization effort for the City of Bremerton. So, we’re really excited about it and really excited about giving back to the community.”
Daugs is excited about what this first revitalization project will mean to the neighborhood and city for years to come.
“What we will be doing, beginning with this project, is working with the City of Bremerton and starting to have conversations with the neighborhood around us by talking with the people who live in those homes,” he said. “We’ll be talking with them about what they would like to see their neighborhood look like in three to five years. We’ll be setting goals with them and working with them to help not just make a home, but revitalize an entire neighborhood.”
Daugs said the city and Habitat have talked about doing something like this for a couple of years. The offer from the bank finally made it possible.
“Because of Sunwest Bank, we are able to have a beginning focal point and you can think of this home as being a cornerstone — the first stone laid of our neighborhood revitalization program,” he said.
City council member Dino Davis, whose district includes Montgomery Avenue, is thrilled that Sunwest and Habitat, which he has been involved with for years, decided to start a revitalization effort in the place he calls home. He noted that he grew up in family involved in construction and real estate and at one time he studied to be an architect.
“One of my favorite quotes from Frank Lloyd Wright is when the Chicago Sun-Times asked him why he was such a stalwart of designing single-family homes, he said, ‘It’s because home ownership is the cornerstone of American democracy,’” Davis said. “And, really, ownership of a home creates community automatically. And Habitat for Humanity’s mission of providing simple and effective and safe homes for families is the economic driver for the neighborhoods they go into. Because when you own a piece of your neighborhood, you’re going to be committed to that neighborhood.”
Daugs also noted that Habitat focuses on building environmentally friendly structures that contribute to keeping maintenance costs low for the families who help construct the homes they will live in for decades.
“So, this home is going to be completely rehabbed down to the studs and rehabbed into a very green house that will make it affordable long-term,” he said. “It’s going to have solar panels on the roof and it’s going to be a really cool home for a family. Habitat has been green since before green was cool.”
