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Look at What You Made Possible

Your donations covered the costs of moving and renovating this house. Here you see it arriving by barge on Orcas Island.

And here’s how it appears today, providing a loving home for a single mom who has lived on Orcas most of her life.

She joins nine other homeowners who have been able to purchase a moved-and-renovated house through OPAL since 2011. All of these wonderful older houses were saved from the landfill and will continue to provide island families with a home they can afford for generations to come.

You did it — thanks!

Two More Houses Move to Orcas

June 2015 – Two more houses arrived by barge on the same day – one from West Seattle and the other from Langley, B.C.

The house from West Seattle was the topic of a news clip on King5 news.

The reporter followed up by coming to Orcas to create another news story highlighting the need for affordable housing on the island.

25 Years of Affordable Housing

April 2014: As part of celebrating OPAL’s 25 year anniversary, we decided to create a report to send to all the businesses and individuals on Orcas Island, Our Report to You- 25 Years of Affordable Housing. The report reveals some of the milestones for the organization and is enhanced by Carla Stanley’s whimsical illustrations.

In case you don’t get mail on island, follow this link to a PDF. If you’d like to have your own professionally printed copy please contact us at (360) 376-3191 or office@opalclt.org and we’ll drop one in the mail to you. Enjoy!

Property Owner Pursues Plan B for Preservation of Edith Macefield House; OPAL Community Land Trust Unable to Secure Funding to Move House to Orcas Island

Almost two months after it was announced that the nonprofit OPAL Community Land Trust would have the first opportunity to raise funds to move the Edith Macefield House from its current location in Ballard to Orcas Island, OPAL has ended efforts to raise the required funds. OPAL had hoped to renovate the house in order to provide a permanently affordable home for a family in need. Regretfully, that will not come to pass.

“We were excited by the potential of having Edith’s home provide permanently affordable housing, but there were not enough donations to our online campaign or through personal appeals to make this happen,” said Lisa Byers, OPAL executive director. “We are sad to not be the ones who will care for this house into the future, and thereby honor Edith’s legacy of scrappy independence.”

The current owner of the property has offered the opportunity to another interested party in an effort to ensure that the house does not face demolition. The owner is committed to finding a location where the structure can become a home for a local family.

Incorporated in 1989, OPAL serves 132 rental and ownership Orcas Island households and continues to accept applications from people who are not able to purchase a house in the traditional market.

With Your Help, Edith Macefield’s ‘Up House’ Will Float to a New Home on Orcas Island

OPAL’s proposal to move the famous Edith Macefield “Up House” from Ballard to Orcas has been accepted by the current owners.

We are thrilled by this opportunity to help perpetuate Edith Macefield’s legacy and to create another permanently affordable home for the island.

Now, we have to raise the funds and move the house. To do that, a crowdfunding campaign begins immediately so everyone who loves the story and the concept of Edith’s love for her home can help make the move a reality.

Owners Accept OPAL’s Proposal

Help OPAL move Edith’s “Up House”. Photo by Nino M. on Yelp.

The owners of the Edith Macefield House in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle accepted OPAL’s proposal to save the house and move it to Orcas.

This is a unique opportunity for OPAL to provide another permanently affordable home for Orcas Island, while preserving a much-adored building with a unique history. The house has had widespread media attention, including stories in The Seattle Times, The New York Times, The Huffington Post, NPR, CBS Evening News and others. When Disney/Pixar released the movie UP!, they did a promotional photo shoot of Edith’s house. As a result, many people have come to call this Seattle’s UP! House.

Our Crowdfunding Campaign Must Succeed

Now we need to complete a successful crowdfunding campaign. We have launched the campaign to raise money to buy the lot, get the permits and move the house on an ocean-going barge. Our belief is that many people have come to love this house, and will support a campaign to save it. Anyone may donate.

We hope the donors to this campaign will be people who want to see Edith Macefield’s house saved. If you know someone who cares about this house, its story, or what it represents, would you please let us know? We would like to invite as many people as possible to contribute to make it happen.

We need many helpers to lift Edith’s house. If you help us find donors at the $100 or greater level, they will get five balloons and a thank you note to express our gratitude for their help. Click here to send us an email telling us who you think may want to help.

If you are as captivated by the house and its story as we are, you might enjoy these links:
New York Times article
USA Today video

And visit our crowdfunding page to donate today!

Submit New Small Works Roster Application

March 2014 – OPAL Community Land Trust maintains a Small Works Roster for projects up to $300,000 in value, such as construction, renovation, remodeling, alteration, repair or improvements of real property.

Companies that have previously submitted applications and have been listed on the Small Works Roster should submit a new application to update the information in our records. All applicants must be properly registered and licensed to perform such work in the State of Washington.

Download the OPAL Small Works Roster Application.