'Up' house in Seattle to be saved from demolition

After years of speculation and debate over its fate, the home many believe to be the inspiration for the house in Pixar's Up is ticketed to be saved from demolition.

The cherished house is set to be moved from its current location in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood to Orcas Island within the next 60-90 days, according to ABC affiliate KOMO. The choice to move the house was made after efforts to renovate it at its current location failed, and the threat of demolition loomed as potential buyers didn't find it cost efficient to bring the house up to code.

"Rather than being forlorn and vacant, it will be lived in and loved," broker Paul Thomas of OPAL Community Land Trust told KOMO.

The tiny 600-square-foot home became famous in 2006, when then-owner Edith Macefield reportedly turned down a $1 million offer to leave the dwelling. Macefield died in 2008, with her former home still standing tall as new retail stores and a gym were built around it.

After the release of Disney Pixar's Up in 2009, fans flocked to visit Macefield's house, leaving balloons with messages written on them tied to the fence surrounding the home. Pixar has denied that the home was "based on any real location."

The home will now be used as affordable housing. It will also be renovated to look as much as it did when Macefield lived there.

"Edith Macefield stood her ground in the face of advancing development and became a worldwide folk hero in the process," Thomas said. "Along the way she gave us a powerful reminder that some things are much, much more important than money. Who could ask for a better legacy than that?"

However, some Seattle residents aren't happy about the house leaving its current spot.

"I'm definitely not happy that the house is leaving," resident Ann MacLean told KOMO. "I mean, the whole point for her was the fact that she was here and that she wasn't going anywhere."

The land Macefield's home sits on will be sold separately.

The Walt Disney Company is the parent company of Disney-Pixar and this station.

'Up' image courtesy of Oh My Disney.