Houston Greek Row?
 

Somebody on another thread mentioned the new Greek Row at Houston and I wanted to know about its status. Is it complete and occupied? How do the fraternities and sororities like it? I can't find anything recent on the internet.

Greek Row at UH opens this Fall, which at UH means August. I was invited to a reception there (I think on the 17th?) so it will at least be open then. I don't live in Houston anymore though, so try finding out for sure from Kevlar281. I am not sure if his fraternity got a spot on the Row, but he would at least know what's up...they probably do have a spot..they're pretty new, so I don't know for sure.

I bought a brick for the DZ house earlier this Spring sometime but they didn't tell me the opening date then...

You Should See The DZ House Here
 

It's gigantic. It may be the largest sorority house on campus; at least it looks like it.

Re: You Should See The DZ House Here
 

What school Firehouse?

I can't believe I missed greek row by just about a year and a half! It kills me!

Florida State University
 

There's a photo on their chapter website (fsudeltazeta.com), and when I looked up the address I noticed that they do mention theirs is the largest house. That's saying something because this is a terrific sorority campus.

It's been just a little while (1998-2000) that I served on the House Corporation for Uof H. At that time, Greek PARK was under serious debate. The sororities (AXO, XO, DZ, DG, Phi Mu, and ZTA) all went in together and said that either they all got houses, or none of them did. This was used as a major bargaining tool, when presented to the fraternities. It was agreed that it was in the best interest of the entire greek system that the NPC sororities be given priority. The remainder of the 15 houses were put up for a pot luck draw by the fraternities and ANY other U of H organization. The current DG advisor has said that Greek Park will be opened by Fall Rush in September! This has been a long tough road for all of us involved with Greek Life at UH. It will really help our greek system!

Here are some links for info:

http://www.studenthousing.com/Construction.html
http://www.stp.uh.edu/vol68/40/news/news4.html

Hope this helps!

aj

http://www.studenthousing.com/images.../bayouoaks.jpg

That is so cool! Congrats!
I would have thought that UH had a lot more than six groups? How many get to live in each house? What is total down at UH?

While I was there total was at 45. There are a few different sized houses, so the amount that will live there is going to vary. The sororities all have the same sq. footage (If I'm remembering correctly) they are just different floor plans. It won't be anywhere near as massive as the house that Sigma Nu finished in 1998. Here's a link to their home page...I don't have a clue how to get the pic in there. They are able to house over 50, and it's a really beautiful place!

http://www.uh.edu/sigmanu/

aj

Yes the majority of the units are completed and their starting to give tours to the Greeks. We will be living at Greek Row as well as retaining the Wheeler house. It’s hard to explain where will be located in that pic but basically where the IFC fraternities end; were the closest house to the Panhellenic houses.

sigh

Well, Pi Kap wasn't around when I pledged in '98 and WAS around when I graduated in '02, so that, to me, is new. I don't see how that is bad. It takes a while to get money to buy into housing, so that is why I wondered if Pi Kap would do it. And that is also why I referred to you for a true answer. No harm intended!:p

Now what I wanna know is how there are some pretty old groups that are virtually ghost-chapters...Beta? Are they even there anymore? I don't think I ever met a Beta, but I know there was a chapter there!

That's my little being quoted in the article :)

There are a few 'ghost chapters' around! U of H is not very lucky when it comes to fraternities! Those that are MIA:

Beta....they were there in Spring 98, then they were mysteriously gone!

KA....before I pledged my boyfriend (now husband) was a Sigma Nu and all the KA's were hanging out with them, then they were gone!

SAM: I know I saw some shirts the first semester or two that I was there, but who knows where they are now!?

Sig Ep: They had a house, I know because I went to a party there...and it's haunted! Then they ceased to exist!

TKE: Well, they didn't mysteriously disappear. They signed their own fates! At least they were out of their house so it could be bulldozed to make Greek Row! WAHOO! I'm so kidding, if any of you guys are out here! I liked MOST of you! ;)

Kevlar: Why are y'all keeping the Wheeler house? I thought that the housing association wanted all Greek OUT!? It just seems like a money drain to me!

aj

Sig Ep is very much still intact...in fact, didn't they do Fiesta with DG? Their website is UHSigEp . I only went to their house once when we had a Halloween Mixer with them. I agree, it is creepy!:eek:

The chapter has never paid for the Wheeler house just the individual Pi Kapps who have lived there. So were keeping it occupied because one: it’s cheaper rent then Greek Row and two: no party restrictions. It’s pretty much win win for the chapter and the guys who live there.
Yes their intact but no they didn’t. The ladies of Delta Gamma accepted a bid from the Gentlemen of Pi Kappa Phi for Frontier Fiesta 03 and received the Joe Koppel Award for best overall.

Well that makes sense! I got a newsletter about Fiesta and our big win! I'm so proud! I always loved Fiesta! My husband (also UH Greek) and I can't wait to get back to the states so we can go as alums!

I guess Sig Ep didn't 'disappear' they just weren't as visible as most of the other groups. They did Fiesta with Phi Mu (I think!) my last year there!

aj

The KA chapter at UH was closed in 1998. However, its Good to see UH is finally getting a Fraternity Row!

The Delta Sig chapter at UH was closed in 1997. However, its Good to see UH is finally getting a Fraternity Row!

Check out Greek Park's websites:

www.bayouoaks-uh.com (the updated one) and www.greekpark.com

I'm moving in on Aug. 18th and I can't wait! It's going to be a blast!

Which Ones?
 

Which fraternities are participating? Which not? Is everyone enthusiastic about the new park?

I just looked at the floor plans for this online and it looks gorgeous! I love how in the suites they gave each person their own sink - that'd be so nice!

Just an Update:

I went to the Bayou Oaks Grand Opening Celebration yesterday and it was great! There was a ton of Greek Alumni, The Board of Regents of the University of Houston System, UH Administrators like Dr. Smith (current President who DU is initiating tonight), Dr. Lee (Vice President of Student Affairs) and his wife Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and Senator Hutchinson (who's greek too), Houston Alumni Org. reps., SGA president, Campus Activities Advisors, Greek Alumni Council, American Campus Communities reps. and representatives of the actual organizations that will be residing there and tons of other people too. It was really nice to see how our university community pulled together for this beautiful project. All 15 houses are 3 stories, there is a greek promenade(walkway) that displays all of our flags (joetoga.com donated), there's also a clock tower that plays our fight song (yesterday was Dr. Smith's Birthday and it played him "Happy Birthday" on the clock tower at the celebration). The place is beautiful and big. It also has apartments on the property that can house 255 students and the Fraternity/Sorority houses 216 resident combined. Everything is very modern and elegant. I'm excited to be moving in on monday, I'm sure it's going to be fun.

Here are the organizations that are housed there:
1. Sigma Pi
2. Sigma Phi Epsilon
3. Kappa Delta Chi (Sorority)
4. Delta Gamma (Sorority)
5. Alpha Chi Omega (Sorority)
6. Phi Mu (Sorority)
7. Delta Zeta (Sorority)
8. Chi Omega (Sorority)
9. Zeta Tau Alpha (Sorority)
10. Pi Kappa Phi
11. Pi Kappa Alpha
12. Tau Kappa Epsilon
13. Student Athletes
14. Delta Upsilon
15. Sigma Chi

**Sigma Nu has a huge house (built in 98 - I think, Houses 36 guys) directly across the street from bayou oaks
**Phi Kappa Theta has a house down the block bordering the Bayou

Go Coogs!

Im pretysure sig ep at U of H is still going..I got a thingi n the email talking about their 2nd annual Texas River bash which i didnt make it to; however, this leads me to beleive that they are around.

Sig Ep is doing great! I'm really glad they're moving into greek park. One of my really good friends is a Sig Ep and he's very involved with them and I know they're doing very well.

:D

I'm all moved in. :)

I'm so jealous! I wish I could be down there! DG is having their open house on Tuesday night for alumnae and parents! I'm stuck in NY, and my doctor won't let me travel! I'm definitely getting down there after the baby's born though! Good luck, y'all!

Sorry to step on any toes SigEp533...when I was at UH THREE years ago, SigEp had a chapter and they were ghosts on campus! My last year there, they were slowly coming out again, I'm very happy that the chapter is thriving now.

I just received a tour of the Delta Gamma house; it’s really nice. I’m sure you’ll love it.

no offense taken, I was just stating what I had heard..dont have a lotta contact with the guys down there.

Has anyone seen the DZ house yet? I need to get littles to send me pictures!!!!

No sorry but I plan on doing a whole photo tour of our house on my LJ.

The Pike advisor told me that the houses are really impressive and that the Pikes had a water leak in their house and so people were squishing around. He also commented positively on the fact that Pi Kappa Phi was looking good this year! He is very fair when it comes to other fraternities, so that is a compliment!

He also said that the ceremony took f-o-r-e-v-e-r.....and that it was possibly too long. Who cares though...there is Greek Row now and I am SOOOOO jealous that I have graduated :( ;)

Question-So, did SX and LX (are they still there?) keep their original houses? (and Pikes are where they have ALWAYS been?)

I'm kind of confused as to exactly where this is. Maybe I should "fess up" in the Geography thread...

LXA has not been there from the time I got there in '98 until now. So I don't know where they went!

I heard (keep in mind, I moved away from Houston a year ago) that the neighborhood wants all greeks out and on campus instead. I heard that Sigma Chi still has their house but that they also got a greek row spot. I also heard that they are having trouble filling up their housing. I could be wrong, but this is what I have heard.

Thanks! Wow, that's kind of a shock to think they might not be able to fill housing! I know...I won't quote ya!

So many of the Sigs were from the Houston and surrounding area when I was there. Not to mention, their alums ahead of Hubby and now HIS age are pretty strong members of the Houston community. Everyone talks about how sad it is when a house closes on any campus. When I read of all the changes at U of H through the years it does hurt. Some great fraternities...gone. Glad to know the sororities are still doing their thing though!:)

What dzsagirl has said is pretty much all true! The Bayou Oaks community wanted all the official Greek housing removed. One of my sisters is married to an active ex-president of Sigma Chi, and he has told me that they are working on selling their old house...which probably will be tough, because they didn't take very good care of it! Beautiful home though!

I got to UH in '96 and there was no LXA chapter either...I wonder how long ago they were gone! This should really help the Houston Greek community! It seems that in your day, JAM, UH was having a Greek Hay Day! I SO wish that it could still be like that! the surrounding areas are slowly improving!

aj

ajuhdg-It seems that in your day, JAM, UH was having a Greek Hay Day! I SO wish that it could still be like that! the surrounding areas are slowly improving!

Nobody REALLY knew how it was or could be. No concept of BIG Greek systems. We thought what we had was the norm...boy were we wrong. Maybe that was good because you can't miss what you've never had. It was pretty laid back, but those TGIFs were some kind of fun!:D

What was REALLY strong was the Quad. It was like a community of it's own. Hubby plays golf every year with the old OB crowd.
(Oberholtzer Hall)

That is so amazing! I was an RA, but I lived in the Towers the whole time! I'm really excited (as I've said several times!) about what Greek Park is going to do for Greek life at UH! I hope y'all can make it down to see the new AXO and SX houses!

aj

Things are looking good...
 

Oct. 2, 2003, 6:34AM

NEW CAMPUS DIGS
UH hoping housing units will foster spirit
By THOM MARSHALL
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

Step inside the new Phi Mu sorority townhouse at the University of Houston and sink into a comfortable cushion of carpet. The living room furnishings are tasteful, color-coordinated and rich-looking. Exquisite.

Step inside the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity townhouse just a few doors away in the campus's new Greek Park and notice the contrast. The first thing to catch the eye is the huge TV. The second is the huge garbage can sitting beside it. Utilitarian.

In an ongoing effort to foster a more vibrant campus life, UH recently opened new housing units with 471 beds, including some special townhouse accommodations for 14 participating fraternities and sororities. Students began moving in at the start of the semester.

Elwyn Lee, UH's vice president of student affairs, said that having a "critical mass of all Greeks in one location" is likely to generate school spirit that will spread across the campus. Members of fraternities and sororities, he said, "participate more in spirit-type activities," such as homecoming events and cheering on the school's sports teams.

Junior Scott Zamir, Delta Upsilon's vice president of public relations, agreed.

"It definitely forces us to get even more involved with the university," Zamir said.

Delta Upsilon has extra space at its 20-man townhouse to accommodate three more guests should a frat brother choose to stay the night rather than drive home after late-night studying, Zamir said.

The new digs provide sorority Delta Gamma the space it hasn't had in almost a decade, said President Cathy Clancy, 21.

"It keeps you on campus a lot longer," said Clancy, a senior, adding that perhaps UH's image as a commuter school will change.

Greek organizations have had a presence at UH for almost half a century, Lee said. But the university has lacked an active campus life because the vast majority of students live and work in the city and venture onto campus only to take their classes.

Lee said that a more vibrant and enriching campus life could pay off in a big way down the line.

"When students hang around campus and interact more," he said, "they develop strong bonds. This makes for alumni who are emotionally attached to the school and who give back to the school."

Currently, out of an enrollment of 35,500, only about 4,000 live on campus, said Diane Murphy, UH assistant vice president of student affairs. She said former UH President Arthur Smith set a goal three years ago of eventually having 10,000 campus dwellers.

Lee said a committee has been formed to determine the next step to be taken to increase on-campus living quarters.

Providing housing on many campuses has grown increasingly complicated in recent years, Murphy said. More students insist on amenities that the old-fashioned dormitories cannot provide. If they can't find the accommodations they want on campus, they prefer to live off-campus, or they may choose to go to another school.

In order to offer on-campus housing that can compete, some universities are forming partnerships with private developers such as Austin-based American Campus Communities, which built the new UH housing development Bayou Oaks.

However, the contractual arrangements for a state-chartered public institution to enter into a partnership with a private company to construct and run student housing on public land can be complicated. When the housing also involves arrangements and agreements with seven fraternities and seven sororities, the complications are compounded.

In this case, UH paid American Campus a development fee for the $20 million project and a management fee of 5 percent of the revenue produced. The university gets whatever is left after paying debt service, utilities and other overhead. That profit could eventually reach $600,000 a year, Murphy said.

She said some 16 lawyers required six months to come up with the 29 legal documents that made the deal possible.

"It was difficult," she said, "but it was worth it."

One of the first things that strikes visitors about the new complex is all the security. It is a gated community, and the only people allowed in are residents with a card to key the gate or visitors who must clear security.

There are video cameras around the perimeter and in several areas inside the buildings. Each four-bedroom suite in the residence hall has a metal front door (opening off the hall) with a dead-bolt lock and peep hole, and each bedroom door also has a lock. On each floor in each of the fraternity and sorority townhouses are panic buttons that summon campus police when pushed.

The non-Greek residence hall has a fitness center, a recreation room with billiards, a community kitchen and 64-inch plasma screen TV set in a roomy area designated as the social lounge. It also has study rooms, a computer lab, and high-speed computer connections and cable TV hookups for each resident.

She said it costs each resident $454 per month to stay in the townhouses, based on two to a bedroom. Monthly rent in the residence hall is $460, based on one to a bedroom. She said the cheapest on-campus housing offered at UH is $350 a month at Moody Towers, based upon two to a bedroom.

Chronicle reporter Rosanna Ruiz contributed to this story.

Sigh...
 

Residents: Partying rampant at Bayou Oaks

By Portia-Elaine Gant
The Daily Cougar

Nearly a semester after Bayou Oaks opened its doors to Greek and non-Greek students, some non-Greeks are complaining because they say life in the complex that houses 255 students now revolves around drinking and partying -- a problem made worse because they say Greeks are given preferential treatment.

"I understand there are fraternities and sororities, and they want to have parties, but sometimes they are just inconsiderate to other residents, and it's wrong," said hotel and restaurant management junior Traci Smith, a Bayou Oaks resident.

"They'll be out there blasting music and making noise, and there are 20 million drunk people roaming around outside. There is a time for those things, but there is a cutoff point," she said.

Some apartment residents said housing authorities were ignoring their grievances in favor of the Greeks.

"It happens everywhere, not just with the Greeks. It's just that it's harder to deal with it knowing that the Greeks get away with it," Smith said. "Elsewhere, it would be handled and the noise would cease. I feel that if those were black student organizations, authorities would be less lenient."

The management staff at Bayou Oaks, which is owned by American Campus Communities, did not comment on student complaints, but UH Police Department Lt. Roger Byars said there has been no need for police intervention thus far.

"As far as noise complaints, if management received non-compliance (complaints) and the noise was disturbing the neighborhood, we would be contacted to intervene, but we have not had to do so," Byars said. "We just haven't had any trouble different from anywhere else on campus."

Some residents said they feel management and UHPD are playing a large role in the problems between Greek and non-Greek residents.

"I don't feel like UHPD or housing staff is on our side. We're not getting the same service," communication sophomore Camryn Barganier said. "I feel like (UHPD) is paid off to keep their mouths shut and not interfere.

"If I thought something could be done, I would say something because I'm a resident there, but I feel like the Greek housing gets more benefits than we do because they're in these organizations," Barganier said.

Greek residents say the noise, which non-Greek residents claim is the biggest problem, produces few complaints. They also said they do not perpetuate the stereotypes of fraternities or sororities.

"We do have parties. Sometimes they can be loud, and sometimes they can last a long time, but we don't get a lot of complaints," freshman Pi Kappa Alpha pledge William Gross said. "The stereotype is that we party seven days a week and drink a lot, but we don't have many parties here during the week. We usually go out to other places."

Chi Omega junior Iiesha Muckelroy said she was sympathetic to the non-Greek residents.

"I live by a (Greek) house. It's loud sometimes, and I see how people could be annoyed, especially in the apartments facing the windows," Muckelroy said. "Living here is still better than some of the other on campus places, and I've lived in the Towers, the Quad and Cougar Place."

Smith, who lived in the Quadrangle's Settegast Hall for two years before moving to Bayou Oaks, agreed and said her experience at the Quad prepared her for resident-hall living.

"The good outweighs the bad by far. Noise complaints are everywhere," Smith said. "The sole difference here is that it's acceptable for the Greeks, whereas we're heavily censured for our mistakes. Living on campus in the dorms was good for me, though, because it helps you learn patience. You learn how to compromise without getting taken advantage of."

Non-Greek residents also claim there is rampant alcohol consumption during Greek social events, but Byars said the rules concerning alcohol are no different than state laws, which are upheld throughout the University.

"The state law says that those under 21 can't drink. We have a security officer that patrols from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.," Byars said. "We don't have any more problems from any of the students at Bayou Oaks than we do anywhere else on campus."

Byars said the "students do a pretty good job" of complying with the housing rules and state laws, but other residents said Greek students most often defy a Harris County law that forbids drinking in public places after 2:15 a.m.

"I'm pretty certain that all the laws are not abided by, though, because they have alcohol at those parties, and they go on long past 2:15 a.m.," Barganier said.

Although residents like Smith said they believe the benefits of Bayou Oaks overshadow the behavior of the Greeks, others are adamant about making a change.

"I'm not staying there next fall, and my roommates won't either. We're not getting our money's worth. The service isn't good at all," Barganier said. "For what we're paying, that's definitely not acceptable."