Photo by Michael J. GallegosTribune

Tribune

Crew members from the popular ABC program "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" start work on the Southeast Heights home of Gerald Martinez, a pastor who has been trying to upgrade his neighborhood. Construction workers did preliminary work Wednesday at the home on the 400 block of Grove Street Southeast. After demolishing the home today they will begin building a new home for the family at the site and expect to be done Monday.

Photo by Michael J. GallegosTribune

Tribune

Louis Ramirez, an employee of Coronado Wrecking, sweeps the street on the 400 block of San Pablo Street Southeast after crews demolished several old houses and apartments. As part of an episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," the show's producers razed the block in preparation for construction of low-income housing.

More Local

• ABQTrib.com to remain available
• Former Marine to serve two years in jail for killing Albuquerque robber
• Wilson-Pearce battle for U.S. Senate exemplifies party's disparity

MOST RECENT TRIB STORIES

• ABQTrib.com to remain available
  08:48 a.m., February 25, 2008
• Congressman is indicted
  08:37 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Series of attacks target Green Zone
  08:36 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Iran is defying U.N., agency says
  08:35 a.m., February 23, 2008
• Waterboarding approval probed
  08:34 a.m., February 23, 2008

TRIB IN THE BLOGOSPHERE*

• Ty Murray Invitational thrills fans in Albuquerque
• Is Rome Burning?
• Ominous Skies
• The Road to Invalidation
• Albuquerque company participates in “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”

*Note: The Tribune does not create and is not responsible for the blogosphere's headlines and stories. These links to blogs talking about ABQTrib.com are automatically generated. Use them at your own risk.

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Comments
• iPod friendly
• Printer friendly

SHARE THIS STORY [?]

While volunteers for the "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" show were planning how to rebuild an Albuquerque home, Debra Asher, a stay-at-home mother of seven, was devising a plan of her own.

Asher wanted to see host Ty Pennington. On Wednesday, with her four youngest kids in tow, she drove from her Northeast Heights home, eluded the security guards at blockades around the production site and stood on a Southeast Heights corner to watch the start of an episode.

"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" is a traveling TV show that bulldozes dilapidated homes belonging to families in need and builds custom homes in place of the old ones.

It airs a 7 p.m. Sundays on ABC affiliate KOAT-Channel 7.

The show is in Albuquerque to rebuild the home of Gerald Martinez, a pastor at Joshua's Vineyard Church who has spent more than $60,000 on purchasing homes in the neighborhood and turning them into duplex apartments for the poor.

Martinez's home at 404 Grove St. S.E. is in the Trumbull Village neighborhood - an area marked by poverty, drug crime and violence.

The show sent Martinez and his family to an undisclosed Disney resort during the construction, which "Makeover" producers say will include a new home for the Martinez family, another new structure and the remodeling of two other homes nearby.

Construction is scheduled to be completed by Monday, with the family returning to see their new home for the first time Tuesday.

In keeping with the concept behind Martinez's neighborhood project, Pennington and the "Extreme Makeover" crew demolished a block of empty houses on nearby San Pablo Street on Wednesday morning as a favor to the city.

Additional duplex apartments will be built there as part of a city plan to revitalize the area, providing a place to live for more families in need of affordable, safe housing.

Darren Drevik, director of marketing for Atreus Homes and Communities, the lead builder on many "Extreme Makeover" projects, said Wednesday that feedback from the show's presence in the community has been extraordinary.

"Everybody that I've talked to . . . has just been thrilled that Martinez and his family are going to get a new home and that we're going to revitalize the neighborhood," he said.

"I think the people that live here really, really want to turn this neighborhood around. One lady was telling me yesterday that it's far better now than it was four years ago. But, she said on the average of once a week you will still hear gunshots. So, it's not there yet."

Drevik said the production has brought attention to the neighborhood's needs and the goals Martinez has been working toward.

Over the last few years the atmosphere of the Trumbull Village neighborhood has started to change thanks to Martinez's efforts, Drevik said. He hopes the "Extreme Makeover" production will give it the push it needs to defeat its reputation.

Samuel Rodriguez, a 25-year-old electrical engineer and recent University of New Mexico graduate, said he bought a duplex in the neighborhood when he was a student, fixed it up and is now leasing it. Part of the motivation behind his purchase was a real estate rumor that the city planned on cleaning up the area, he said.

There were also rumors that "Extreme Makeover" might visit the neighborhood, but Rodriguez said he never expected the visit would come so soon.

"When they started talking about it in the news, I started jumping for joy," he said, "because it's something that is really needed in this area."

Rodriguez said he hopes neighborhood residents and his tenants will have a better place to live because of the show's visit.

He said having a show like "Extreme Makeover" in the neighborhood is a dream come true for an investor.

"I mean, this is what you want to do. You want to buy before the changes, and then you want to sell when these changes are happening," he said.

Dozens of Albuquerque residents are playing a part in creating those changes by volunteering to assist the crew. In exchange for carpentry or other skilled labor, or even helping out at the volunteer center - set up in a white tent at Española Street and Bell Avenue Southeast - their payment is the gratification of helping, Drevik said.

Prospective volunteers can register for a position at extremeatreus.com. They can also take a shuttle from Expo New Mexico to the construction site from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Drevik said.

The Martinez house was to be demolished today. Construction begins immediately, Drevik said.

"If people want to come down in the next week and volunteer, we've got plenty of things they can help us out with, even if they're not carpentry-type people," he said.

"If somebody wants to be involved in this program and wants to help out, they can do that."

Volunteering is a key part of Asher's plan to see Pennington up close.

"I would really like to help volunteer when they get a little further down the line," she said. "So, I wanted to come and check it out and see just kind of what was going on and if that was a possibility."

Asher said she and her kids watch the show every Sunday night. It's one of the few prime-time shows that she can watch with her family, she said. That's also why she wanted to be a part of it.

"It's an exciting thing," she said. "To have it happen in our own town is a lot of fun."

The show is expected to run next season, producers said.