MONTCLAIR-- When investor Jeremy MacDonald first looked at a residence in the township's Fieldstone neighborhood, he knew little of its colorful past: A family of undercover Russian spies had once occupied the now vacant house.
Fast forward four years, and MacDonald's development company is planning to flip the long empty Montclair property.
FBI agents raided the home in 2010 and arrested its suburban owners Vladimir and Lydia Guryev, a couple who went by fake names Richard and Cynthia Murphy and attempted to gather useful intelligence for Moscow. The case served as inspiration for FX's show "The Americans."
Situated on a quiet township road amidst a row of well-manicured houses, neighbors have for years described the vacant residence at 31 Marquette Street as an eyesore.
A makeover, however, is in its future.
The new owners, North N.J. House Buyers LLC., purchased the property at the end of June for $340,000 and recently submitted permits to begin renovations, said the company's co-owner MacDonald.
The businessman has had his eye on the home since 2013, when the U.S. Marshalls Service first put it on the market for $440,900. Boston-based Santander Bank then acquired it in 2016.
"I didn't even know it used to be a Russian spy house," MacDonald said. "The realtor I'm currently working with showed me all the news articles about its history."
MacDonald said his company has hired a landscaper to repair the home's exterior, with its yellow, chipped paint and line of overgrown bushes.
Once renovations totaling around $200,000 are complete, MacDonald said, the home will have a new bedroom, walk-in-closet, bathroom and finished basement. He anticipates it will sell for about $700,000.
MacDonald expects the home's history to neither help nor hurt prospects of selling it and called the latest move a step toward a "happy ending" for the seven-year saga.
"It's out of the FBI's hands and it's not foreclosed. This has been an ongoing story for the past seven years, but now its coming to an end," he said.
The Montclair couple -- two of 10 people arrested at the time as part of a ring of Russian spies -- evaded authorities using steganography, a high-tech method of writing and passing messages.
Neighbors at the time said they believed Cynthia Murphy was employed as a Manhattan accountant while her husband worked as an architect. In 2009, Cynthia Murphy used financial contacts in New York to pass information to Moscow about the prospective global gold market, according to the FBI.
Neighbors and the township now look forward to a fresh start for the home, which still hasn't parted with its history of espionage.
Rashaun Hall, who moved into the Fieldstone neighborhood in November, called the home "an eyesore" and said he is excited it's being repaired.
"All the houses will look the same now once it's fixed up, so that's good," he said.
Head of Montclair Code Enforcement Brian Wilde says the township is also pleased with the fix-up plan.
"Montclair is excited that this house will be renovated soon and lived in again, bringing a new family to the neighborhood," Wilde said.
A CNN "Declassified" special airing on Saturday at 9 p.m. will feature the 2010 story of undercover spies living in New Jersey and other parts of the country.
Avalon Zoppo may be reached at azoppo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @AvalonZoppo. Find NJ.com on Facebook.