Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 21, 1993 TAG: 9301210142
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KENNETH SINGLETARY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Long
NEW HOMES FROM OLD
With their matching and neatly painted pastel colors, they look almost like gingerbread houses. And with manicured lawns around them, they resemble vacation cottages.Given the state of many of the buildings nearby - weathered, showing their age - these houses seem out of place, as if they have been magically transported from Florida or some other tropical locale.
What is the story with these houses, houses that look so gracious that folks stop to enjoy the view and the inviting park benches?
After all, it's hard to believe these places - one at 485 Harless St. and two behind it on School Lane - are the same ones that were fit to be condemned a few years ago.
The renovations are the work of Oliver "Bud" Koland and his brother, Merlyn, two hard-working men with a lot of drive and, initially, little else.
They began four years ago, taking about a year with each house. They had no tools, no experience and little money. But they had desire and a good credit rating.
Bud Koland was able to track down the absentee owners of the abandoned houses through his nephew, a Christiansburg lawyer. With a loan from Central Fidelity Bank, he paid $4,500 for the Harless Street house and $30,000 for the other two houses and adjacent lots.
Nevertheless, obstacles and countless hours of hard work lay before them. So why do something like this?
"We're from Minnesota. We cannot quit working. We have to be doing something all the time," said the 63-year-old Bud Koland, a retired optician who for the last eight years has managed the Econo Lodge in Christiansburg.
Merlyn Koland, who lives in the house on Harless Street, is 71 and retired from the Army.
"I wanted something to do. It's a hobby, I guess," Bud Koland said. They took the Harless Street house "because it was the only one we could get."
Now that the three houses are finished - "They're just like new homes, really," Bud Koland said - the brothers are hoping to pick up some neighboring vacant lots so they can add a putting green and more grass.
They'd even like to turn the area into a park.
With the well-kept grounds and poles bearing an American flag and a flag with a blue field and yellow cross ("We're Swedish," Merlyn Koland explained) the area looks "just like a park in the summer," Bud Koland said. "People come by and want to know if they can sit in the grass."
The brothers worked from dawn to dusk clearing the land and burning brush. They gutted the houses and tore down rickety porches. They installed new wiring, plumbing and walls.
"But you've got to remember, we don't complain. We enjoy it," Merlyn Koland said.
They did it all without plans - it was all in their heads. Bud Koland said he can visualize the finished product. "I can just see what I'm going to do."
The brothers even cleaned neighboring lots that did not belong to them.
They recently rented out the two houses on School Lane and both tenants are happy and impressed.
"I like it. I like it very much," said Don Wells, a restaurant manager who moved into one of the houses Nov. 1.
He said he enjoys the vaulted ceilings and the hand-crafted windows. And outside, "it'll be better in the spring when I can use the deck," he said.
"You can just tell they spent a whole lot of time fixing this place up," said Don Buckhalter, a restaurant operations manager who lives in the other house.
Buckhalter moved in from Florida in late December and not long after that came down with bronchial pneumonia, which turned into asthma, which landed him in the hospital for a few days.
When Bud Koland heard what happened, "he stopped by to see what he could do," Buckhalter said.
Koland refilled Buckhalter's oil tank during his hospital stay and has been helping out with utilities until Buckhalter gets his first paycheck.
Buckhalter said a similar house would go for $800 to $1,200 a month in Florida, much more than the rent he is paying. When he responded to Bud Koland's newspaper ad, Buckhalter wasn't expecting much and couldn't believe it when he saw the place.
The two-bedroom house "suits my needs really well," Buckhalter said. He will be bringing his two children from Florida in June.
"These three houses stand out like that," Buckhalter said, snapping his fingers. "I'd like to see more people do something like this, because it helps the area a whole lot."
Town officials, too, are pleased.
"I think [Koland] does a great job," said Mike Phillips, Christiansburg's building inspector. "A little improvement goes a long way."
Phillips added that the work the brothers have done increases the value of the homes in the entire neighborhood.
Koland "has really made a difference," said Town Manager John Lemley. "He's really done a fine job."