Forrest “Frosty” Wallace can’t use the front door in the wintertime in his small, two-bedroom apartment just west of the Vashon post office. Because of gaps between the door and its frame, he duct-tapes it shut during the cold months — his makeshift effort to keep the wind from blowing into his thin-walled unit.

Now, the 52-year-old auto mechanic is hoping things might change at an apartment complex that has long been considered an Island eyesore. Last week, Vashon HouseHold purchased the three-building complex, promising to repair and restore the tired structures and transform them into its newest affordable housing project.

Wallace, who says he’s been sick all winter, said the makeover can’t happen soon enough.

“This has been a convenient place to live,” he said. “But boy, trying to get anything done is just ridiculous.”

Like others who live at the complex on 178th Avenue S.W. across the street from Vashon Plaza, he said he hopes he’ll qualify for one of the units once Vashon HouseHold restores the place.

“I believe in my heart they’re a good organization, and I hope I do get to stay here,” Wallace said. “I’d like to see them make something good of it.”

Vashon HouseHold officials say “making something good of it” is fully their intention.

The organization, a nonprofit that develops affordable and below-market housing on Vashon, purchased the 20-unit complex last week after more than a yearlong effort to line up financing from county and state sources. Sam Hendricks, the executive director, declin-ed to disclose the selling price but said that the organization received millions of dollars in grants and that the purchase resulted from “a series of fortunate events.”

“Very few projects got funded in these last rounds,” he said.

Because of the proposal the organization put together, Vashon HouseHold now has the money in place to begin a complete makeover this summer, Hendricks said. He expects it will take a year to complete the overhaul.

“We’re positioned to renovate every unit significantly,” he said. “It’s going to be a life-changing experience for the people who live there.”

Most units will get new flooring, carpeting, windows, cabinets and appliances, Hendricks said. The exteriors will be resided, and the mansard-style roofs on the town houses will be removed and replaced by a more traditional roofing style. Landscaping will take place, and the driveway will be repaved and improved.

The organization plans to do this while working around the residents who live there, many of whom are on limited or fixed incomes. “It’ll be a huge logistical feat,” Hendricks said.

The rehab stands as Vashon HouseHold’s seventh project — five of which are completed — and its second foray into the more complex world of family-sized rental units. Eernisse Apartments, which the organization built from the ground up, is its first family-oriented complex. The organization’s other apartment buildings serve elderly or disabled people.

The apartment complex will be dubbed Mukai Commons, in deference to B.D. Mukai, a Japanese-American farmer whose renowned strawberry fields once spanned the expanse west of the project. And according to Hendricks, the undertaking will do more than just create affordable housing.

It also represents an effort at community renewal, he said — the organization’s attempt to improve not only some buildings but a corner of Vashon that’s been impacted by the complex’s neglect and poor reputation.

“It’ll transform that part of town,” he said.

Vashon HouseHold purchased the complex — three separate tax parcels — from Curtis West and Dennis Loeb, business partners who have owned the apartments since the mid-1990s. The property wasn’t on the market when Hendricks approached the owners.

Loeb, a retired contractor and longtime Islander, said he and West were open to Vashon HouseHold’s desire to buy it but daunted by what they assumed would be a long and complex process.

And indeed, it took two years for the deal to come to fruition, Loeb said.

But he’s now glad that the business partners agreed to sell to the nonprofit. Loeb, who calls himself “as liberal as they come,” said he has not felt good about the buildings’ condition.

At the same time, he said, the expense of bringing the units up to a better standard would have meant higher rents, and that, too, seemed unacceptable.

“The ability of the private sector to maintain affordable housing is really called into question,” he said. “Over time, we’re going to need more and more of these community-based organizations to step up.”

Not all the residents are happy about their new landlords, however.

John Cronin, whose family has received free rent for his management of the complex for the past 18 months, just learned that he’ll lose his position — a hardship for him and his wife.

Cronin stays home and cares for their 16-month-old son while his wife works, he said.

“I’m happy that it’s going to be a nice place to live,” he said. “But now I’m going to have to get a job and put my son in day care. … I’m really disappointed about that.”

But others say the promise of a makeover is welcome news.

Dolly Pointer, 82, who has lived at the complex 21 years — longer than anywhere else in her life — said it’ll be hard for her to move to another unit when it comes time for her apartment to be rehabbed.

Her small one-bedroom apartment is stuffed full,

she noted, sweeping her gaze around a living room filled with stacks of books, numerous plants and paintings leaning against the walls.

At the same time, she added, it’ll be nice to see the complex — a place that at one time seemed like a neighborhood to her — cleaned up.

“I think that’s a good idea, after all these years,” she said.

Wallace, too, is pleased. “I sure hope they start doing some things around here,” he added.