Orion Township renovators preserve former Jimmy Hoffa house

DETROIT (FOX 2) - The life and legacy of Jimmy Hoffa is much closer than many Oakland County residents think. 

His lake house where he raised his kids is now being preserved brick by brick in Lake Orion. 

Big picture view:

A husband-and-wife renovator duo says they are satisfied with the final product too.

"It’s exciting. I mean, in a year, 16 months, we’ve met a lot of great people locally that had, you know, ties to this house. Obviously, we’ve met the Hoffa family either through messaging or directly with Jim. It brought a great opportunity. It’s just exciting to see it come back to what it should be," said renovator Susan Hagen.

"They bought it in ’47. And according to James, whenever the school bell rang, they were out for the summer. They’d make a beeline up to the lake. They’d spend their whole summer here. And then I think later on, in the early ’70s, it became the full-time residence," said John Hagen.

Jimmy Hoffa in Orion Township made the Square Lake house a home for his wife and two kids in 1947. Hoffa went missing in the summer of 1975. Afterward, it sat vacant for years, blighted and falling apart.

Then 16 months ago, the Hagens bought it, renovated it, preserving parts of the home.

Now it’s listed on Airbnb and Vrbo, allowing people to stay in it.

What they're saying:

Jim Hoffa, the son of Jimmy Hoffa, tells FOX 2 he loves it as it looks like the home he grew up in.

"I remember the weekends of being together," Hoffa said. "One of the times when we had our high school graduation party. Had our whole class or at least part of our class showed up out at the lake out there and my dad was making pancakes for all of us early in the morning. So, I remember times like that, cooking out and being together as a family. Swimming together, hunting turtles, doing all the things young people do with my dad there. It was a great memory and a great way to grow up."

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