The "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" house in Northeast Baltimore has been revealed, but it will be mid-week before the members of Boys Life Girls Life, a organization that provides at-risk youth with a group-home-style setting, can live there.
"Once everything is set with the house and the staff, we will move in there and start getting ready for school," said Marcia Meehan, executive director of Boys Hope Girls Hope of Baltimore. "We're still kind of playing it by ear."
The seven girls of Boys Hope Girls Hope, were joined Sunday afternoon by hundreds of onlookers as the $1 million, three-level home was revealed. Volunteers built and decorated the home from the ground up in nine days. The home was originally scheduled to be built in seven days, but torrential rains knocked the reveal off schedule.
The wait was worth it, according to Meehan.
"It's unbelievable," she said. "It's beautiful. It's enormous, yet it has a wonderful homey feel. You look at it and know that it is going to be filled with love. It makes you cry. It was built as a house, but it will truly be a home for those young deserving girls."
Lauren Simone, whose 12-year-old daughter Milan Dower will eventually be living in the home, couldn't believe the outpouring of support the community showed the girls. She was also very impressed with the home, which she said was "Godly" and a result of "divine intervention."
Simone added: "I was mesmerized. I could not believe I was on the same street. It was amazing. I was happy. I was thankful."
Simone has not been able to have an actual conversation with her daughter since the reveal other than a text that read: "Mom, it's amazing."
The girls will continue to live with their families until the house is completely ready for them to move in, according to Meehan.
Members of Boys Hope Girls Hope are being pretty tight lipped about details in the home.
"You'll have to talk to ABC," Meehan said.
The 11,120-square-foot home, said to be the largest in the history of the show, will mix traditional Baltimore elements with a lot of modern style, according to the builders. For example, the front of the home includes brick to represent the historic row homes of Baltimore. The arched roof is inspired by the National Aquarium in Baltimore.
The home features nine bedrooms, a finished basement, a two-story fireplace, a library, and a "Grand Hall," The Baltimore Sun learned Thursday during a tour of the unfinished home.
The structure, which is the largest in the history of the show, will be green certified, and will contain solar panels and other materials that will cut down on energy costs, he said.
The recipients of the new home were surprised two weeks ago with the news of the home while filming an interview with a local television station. The group was under the impression that they were being interviewed for the community service they perform as members of Boys Hope Girls Hope. The girls were sent to Los Angeles on vacation -- courtesy of the show -- while the home was under construction.
The group was one of five finalists in the area for the new home. Producers for the popular feel-good show found out about the girls when the boys of the program wrote a letter on their behalf asking for a home.
Boys Hope Girls Hope has been operating a home for boys in Northeast Baltimore since 2001. That home is located a block away from the lot where the girls' home is being built. The lot -- located in the 3800 block of Fleetwood Avenue -- was purchased last year by the organization with plans for building a group home for the girls. The lot is the site where a house was torched by a serial arsonist in 2007.
Officials are still looking for clean-up volunteers. Interested people may show up at the site without calling first.
The Baltimore episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" will air this fall on ABC.