U of Alabama: Sorority Housing -- 4 Building Lots Coming?
 

A concern at some schools is the lack of suitable or desirable space to build new sorority or fraternity houses. I don't know if that's seen as a problem at 'Bama, but some news about possible space has popped up:

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/articl...1007?p=3&tc=pg

'Bama's planning or hoping to tear down some dorms, build some new ones, and do stuff I don't fully understand because I don't have a mental map of the campus.

Excerpt from fairly far down in longish article (boldface added):

. . . UA administrators plan to remake the space of the three dorms behind the President's Mansion and Little and Moore halls into four lots for new sorority houses, according to documents presented to trustees. . . .

Hmmm - not familiar with Bama but are those groups unhoused at this point?

I was thinking that AOII, Theta, and any other sororities housed near the stadium were in danger of losing their housing due to stadium expansion plans. Maybe these sororities are the intended occupants of these new lots. Totally speculating though.

I thought I had read in the latest newsletter from AOII Properties that AOII at Bama had just been approved for a renovation and an expansion of their house?

It's been in the works for a while. 1 sorority is renting from another sorority, and another is supposed to come on in 2011. Plus a number of houses are way over capacity...they violate fire codes whenever they have a chapter meeting.

This has been in the works for several years and is just finally coming to be. There is a large parking lot situated behind Magnolia Drive (part of sorority row) which is being converted into lots that will be made available for any sorority and possibly fraternity that might wish to build a new house.

If I am not mistaken another parking deck is going to be built somewhere in order to accomodate the loss of parking spaces. (Always an issue on practically every campus.)

So in a nutshell, no chapter is being forced to move out of their house -- unlike what happened several years ago when the stadium was expanded. It would be strictly voluntary and if there is more interest than spaces available, some sort of a lottery system will be employed.

I heard NPC sororities were told to expect quota to be close to 100 this year! WOWSERS!

Zillini, I meant to say earlier thanks for the post...I knew you'd know the latest!:D

Even with a new colony? Or is DG not coming yet?

:eek: What? That is insane.

Oh My Gosh. The chapters are going to have to rent a space for meetings.

Keep us posted, U of Alabama Greek Chat people.

Enrollment is up so much and I know all of the NPC chapters currently on campus were just "warned" to be prepared just in case. I think DG has to make a decision with their plans. But even if they are colonizing this fall, the numbers are up that high. I bet the University will have to open for extension again soon.

Here's hoping DG will get a wiggle on... and how exciting that the system is strong, healthy and growing.

It's possible. But there's a physical space limitation. Plus the need to build a big, expensive house limits expansion to a sorority that can afford the mortgage.

There are already over 1,100 women registered for rush. Tentative plans call for another colonization in fall of 2013.

There is a major meeting next week for all House Corp's where we'll get an update on all of this. We're supposed to find out about DG's potential colonization by 7/15. If it happens it should be in 2012. Potential housing is the big question there and rightly so. Again, I suspect a lot will depend on what we find out at this upcoming meeting.

This year Recruitment registration numbers are up significantly compared to last year at this same point in time, a nearly 40% increase. However that is presumably deceiving since a new tiered fee structure for signing up went into place. I don't remember the exact amounts, but if a PNM registered before 6/30 it would be $X, between 7/1-30 it would be higher, then higher still for 8/1-start of Recruitment.

On UA Panhellenic's Facebook page Saturday, July 17: recruitment registration is now at 1,509 women.

wow!! hope they all go thru with it.

4 new sorority houses to be built at UA: http://www.cw.ua.edu/2010/07/22/four...built-in-2011/

and recruitment numbers expected to swell to between 1,600 and 1,700: http://www.cw.ua.edu/2010/07/01/gree...or-recuitment/

Great news about the four lots for sororities! What should a member expect to pay in rent per semester to live in a sorority house at UA?

I would love to see our old Beta Psi Chapter re-colonize!

Update Nov. 5, 2010 New Housing for Four Bama Sororities

Reportedly new housing will be built for Alpha Delta Pi, Alpha Gamma Delta, Delta Delta Delta and Delta Gamma, according to an article in the student paper:

http://www.cw.ua.edu/2010/11/04/soro...ur-new-houses/

Excerpts from ^^:

The UA system board of trustees approved a Stage I resolution to build new housing for the sororities Alpha Delta Pi, Alpha Gamma Delta, Delta Delta Delta and Delta Gamma, Thursday.

. . . the houses will be built behind the President’s Mansion in the new Magnolia Development.

Gentry McCreary, director of greek affairs, said sororities were able to apply for the new housing, and the four chosen were selected based off of need and merit.

He said topics such as grade point average, community service and number of members played into the selection process for the bid for housing. . . .

McCreary said the greek community has more than doubled in size since 2003 when it was about 3,000 members strong. . . .

McCreary said other sororities will have the chance to move into the houses the selected sororities leave on Sorority Row. . . .

All the sorority houses are expected to be opened by fall 2012.

ETAA Tuscaloosa paper's site reports on the whole assortment of building / renovation projects around campus that have been approved, including the sorority housing. See

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/articl...y-for-projects

The western most lot (next to KD) will be DDD, then AGD, then ADPi and then DG on the eastern end lot.

Wow! I wonder if DDD will try to replicate their unique birthday-cake house!

I wonder, too - it's been great for identification. But I've heard the resident members don't like having curved walls. It'll be fun to see what each house looks like!

Congrats to Tri Delta! (No offense to my Tri Delta friends but their house was just an architectual nightmare!)

UGA DDD shoulda built one next to the AGD's Wedding Cake House

I hear they have floated the idea of a wedding cake house but like the one on St. Charles in New Orleans.

So sorry to bring up the dreaded "e" word, but does the four houses moving mean there will be physical room for expansion on campus?

Well, we aren't moving as we aren't there yet - colonization fall 2011. But yes, they would like to add 3 more groups for a total of 20.

Yes. They have in mind bringing in a new group every other year, until there are...3 or 4 new ones, I think.
ETA: 3 more, total of 20 - got it - thanks Titchou!

That is really exciting! I will admit, I am a HUGE nerd when it comes to fraternity and sorority housing...for those on the housing corporations or those that work with the chapters that will be getting the houses, please keep us updated! I'd love to hear what different options and ideas you all are bouncing around, as well as elevations/floor plans when they are ready, and I'm sure I'm not alone. I can't imagine that at a flagship school like Alabama that these houses will be anything short of phenomenal.

Well, let's see...multiple elevators and an escalator from the foyer, granite countertops in bathrooms and each resident has her own bathroom with soaking tub and multiple showerheads, a 24-hour snack bar on each of the 5 floors, a swimming pool out back with slides and waterfalls and a grotto reached by swimming underwater...!!!

Just kiddin' with ya!:D
But it is fun to dream...:p

Oh yes, that's what my family wants for our next house, lol.:D

And don't forget the stage that rises from the floor and drop down stage lights and sound for recruitment...24/7 concierge service, private heated and cooled parking garage with valet service....

But of course!http://www.city-data.com/forum/image...ies/oglvvd.gif

Acacia at U of Illinois did something in this vein in the early 90's. Then they realized they couldn't pay for it, and sold it to the university. You can see the building on Chalmers, IIRC, with ACACIA still clearly carved into the stones that line the front porch.

(I don't know if it is a UIUC thing, but nobody ever removes letters or crests from houses on campus. They are sometimes covered up, but never removed)

The campus paper reports the nitty-gritty dollar amounts of bonds and loans for the four sorority houses, as well as for a new Phi Delta Theta house (which I hadn’t seen mentioned previously):

http://www.cw.ua.edu/2010/11/08/witt...rollment-goal/

Excerpts from article:

. . . The Board also approved the construction of a new Phi Delta Theta Fraternity house, located on the corner of University Boulevard and Second Avenue.

The University will fund the project via future revenue bonds. A bond of about $10 million will finance Alpha Delta Pi’s construction, which will be in the form of a loan to the sorority in the amount of about $7 million. The remainder of the balance will be accounted for by the appraised value of the existing house, as well as cash reserves.

Alpha Gamma Delta’s construction requires a bond of about $8 million. The sorority will receive a loan in the amount of about $6 million. The remainder of the balance will be accounted for by the appraised value of the existing house, as well as cash reserves.

Delta Delta Delta’s house will be funded by a bond of about $12 million, with their loan allocation around $9 million. The appraised value of the existing house, as well as cash reserves, will account for Delta Delta Delta’s difference, as well.

Delta Gamma, which will come to the University in fall 2011, was granted a future revenue bond from the University for the construction of their initial sorority house. The nearly $6 million bond will be in the form of a $5,750,000 loan. The remainder of the balance will be offset by funds provided from Delta Gamma’s National Housing Corporation.

Phi Delta Theta was granted about $6 million in future revenue bonds in the form of a loan of about $5 million. The difference will be accounted for by the appraisal of the current house in addition to the fraternity’s cash reserves.

I would really love to see some of the layouts/schematics/mock-ups of the houses. The sorority houses at Bama are absolutely gorgeous... we have nothing like that at my school!