Former Unity House to get a makeover

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Brian Korthals/Daily Globe Scott Johnson (left) and Jorge Lopez stand in front of the Unity House that is being rehabbed in Worthington.
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Brian Korthals/Daily Globe The Unity House rehab project will save much of the fine interior wood doors and trim while updating the rest of the home.

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WORTHINGTON — For more than 30 years, Southwestern Mental Health Center has occupied a century-old, two-story home at the corner of Fourth Avenue and 13th Street. Utilized as the Unity House, a residential treatment facility for the mentally ill, the house was most recently used as much-needed office space for the SWMHC.

Now, with the last of the office workers moved out, the large five-bedroom, two-bathroom house is being repurposed. By late spring or early summer, the home is hoped to be back on the market as a single-family dwelling.

Located in Worthington’s historic district — it stands across the intersection from the Dayton House — the former Unity House will undergo extensive remodeling in the coming months. Earlier this month, crews repaired and reshingled the roof. They also dug around the stone foundation under the oldest portion of the home and installed a fabric to stop leaks. A tile system was also added around the perimeter to keep moisture from building up.

Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership (SWMHP) is coordinating the estimated $70,000 to $80,000 rehab on the home, though they don’t officially take ownership of the place until March 1.

Lisa Graphenteen, with the housing partnership, said the purchase date may be sooner if crews are able to come in and work on the home. Much of the work will be completed by prisoners in the Minnesota Department of Corrections construction program.

“We’ve had a contract with the Department of Corrections and we’re on our third year,”Graphenteen said. “The Department of Corrections determines who is eligible to participate in the program and they let us know when people are available.”

While the prisoners do their work during the day, they are housed at night in the Nobles County Jail in Worthington.

“We’ve used (the prisoners) on a number of our projects,” Graphenteen added. “Some have entered the construction industry after their release. They’re really a good group and they’re learning a lot of skills. It’s really a training process — a lot of them come with no experience at all.”

The housing partnership was able to take advantage of the mild December temperatures to get the outside work under way. Inside the home, there is a long list of projects that need to be completed, from replacing all of the existing carpeting and linoleum with new flooring to replacing tubs, showers, sinks and toilets in the bathrooms. The home will retain some of its unique features, from a stained glass window on the first floor to its period woodwork and even a pocket door on the main level to separate the formal dining room from a living room.

Walls and ceilings need to be patched, spindles in the open staircase need to be replaced and the kitchen countertop and cabinets will be upgraded. In addition, the home will get electrical upgrades, a new furnace, gutters and downspouts.

“We’ll do some landscaping improvements as well,” said Graphenteen. Right now, the large deck that was on the Fourth Avenue side of the home has been peeled away from the foundation.

A grant from the Worthington Rediscovered fund and a Neighborworks loan from SWMHP are helping to fund the necessary projects.

Scott Johnson, director of the Southwestern Mental Health Center, said the home had served a need in the community for more than 30 years, but it had long been an inadequate facility for treating the mentally ill. Clients housed in the former Unity House were able to move from the home about a year ago and into a new facility on the former Central School property, located directly across Fourth Avenue.

Both Johnson and Graphenteen are glad to see the home repurposed.

“When we looked at it, the nice thing about the partnership we’ve created with the Southwestern Mental Health Center, (is that the home) is suitable for rehab,” Graphenteen said. While the housing partnership will pour nearly $80,000 in rehab work into the home, she said the taxable market value on the property is $116,000.

“By doing some rehab on the home, it would have a value that exceeds the rehab,” she added. “Also, with a 5-bedroom, 2-bath home, it’s very attractive and in a very good location, close to downtown. (The property) just had a lot of good features to it.

“It’s going to provide a great opportunity for home ownership in the community,” Graphenteen said.

The same, unfortunately, cannot be said for the Kilbride House, which is also owned by the Southwestern Mental Health Center. The building, once home to the Kilbride Clinic, is no longer occupied by SWMHC and will likely be torn down.

Tags: unity house, news, makeover