HGTV host Alison Victoria has been all over the network in the past few months. Not only did her hit show, Windy City Rehab, return for Season 4 (which she went full bikini beach mode to announce) in late May after several tumultuous years of lawsuits, but the star also was also seen competing against her fellow renovation experts in the Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge over the summer. On top of that, Victoria had the three-episode special, Windy City Rehab: Alison’s Dream Home air, and she’s opened up about how it’s her “sexiest” build ever, and how much she had to borrow from friends to get it done.
What Did Alison Victoria Say About Building Her Dream Home?
Viewers who tune into HGTV on a regular basis know that Alison Victoria is one of the channel’s enduring stars. The host loves bringing classy, modern elegance to rundown/abandoned properties in her hometown of Chicago, and has also done the same in other locales for competition-style shows Ty Breaker, Battle On the Beach, and Rock the Block. However, the focus of Alison’s Dream Home was on the determined designer building her own sanctuary for all of her residential and work needs.
When speaking with TV Insider about the project, she revealed that it was her dream to turn a warehouse (which was built in 1930 and comes in at 6,250 square feet) into the perfect space for her, and filming it as part of her popular show “just made sense.” She added:
I love this spinoff and that it ties back to Windy City Rehab. It was truly a dream when I pitched it as Alison’s Dream Home. They wanted to name it something different and I said, ‘No, this is exactly what it should be named.’ Now that I live in it now, I know it’s the perfect name because it’s the dreamiest, sexiest place I ever designed.
After hearing some of what’s included in the space, which Victoria had moved into a couple of weeks before her interview, I doubt that anyone will dispute the property being “the dreamiest, sexiest place.” If you imagine an amenity, she pretty much made sure she had it in her new home/work complex, as it includes a giant spa tub, gym, theater, custom chef’s kitchen, year-round courtyard, great room and primary suite. And, if you’ve seen any of the homes she’s helped to turn from trash into treasure, you know that it’s all as luxe as can be.
Why Does Alison Victoria Owe Her Friends Money, And How Much Does She Need To Pay Them Back?
Anyone who’s renovated even the smallest bit of their home knows just how expensive such a thing can be, and a job on the scale of hers takes that to a whole different level. Not only was it a large space to work on, but the finished product led to one of her brothers comparing the courtyard to something “like Versailles,” so you know it’s all glorious to behold. Design elements that fancy cost additional pretty pennies, and it turns out that the renovation mastermind had to borrow quite a bit of cash from friends to get the job done, and done in the way she wanted. She said:
I still owe two of my best friends $400,000. So there is no rich chick here. It’s someone who bought a building and got really lucky, at a very inexpensive amount six years ago. When I had this dream, I bought this place with $350,000 and had the potential of turning it into something great. In my head, I thought it would be easy...That the banks will see what I see. Through that process, the money I did have saved, which was $500,000, wasn’t enough anymore. I couldn’t just stop the project because what the hell was I going to do?
Not only were her savings not enough to finance the project herself (which is likely pretty standard for most people), but she couldn’t get a bank loan, because there was nothing for them to compare her idea for the building to, so they couldn’t fully tell if giving her money would be worth the risk. She continued:
I’m still struggling. I’m still trying to get a bank to come to see it and understand so I can pay my friends back. You don’t want to owe your friends hundreds of thousands of dollars, especially when they helped you get through a really tough time.
Honestly? I cannot imagine owing $400,000 in general, much less to my dear friends who’d always stood by me and helped me weather a number of contentious lawsuits, the threat of my business going under and several personal trials. It seems that her buddies think she’s good for it, though, so at least they’re probably going to give her all the leeway they can when it comes to paying them back. I think I’d be asking for at least some weekly time in the spa to help even things out, and, considering how proud she is of her new home, it seems that Alison Victoria would be cool with that.
