SN alums building private GLO row at Kent
 

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Sun, Dec. 18, 2005
Sigma Nu may move on up
Fraternity at KSU plans to be first in Greek Village
By Carol Biliczky
Beacon Journal staff writer

KENT - Andrew Meeks lives in a modest house with brown indoor-outdoor carpeting, lead-based paint and a battery-powered skeleton that dances to rock tunes.

All that soon could change: Sigma Nu social fraternity plans to be the first to ink a deal in a new, privatized Greek Village at Kent State University.

The development would include as many as six fraternities and sororities that would house up to 125 students.

While the university is providing the land -- six vacant acres at the corner of Ted Boyd and Campus Center drives -- this would be privatized housing. The university won't have a hand in the daily operations of the village.

David Creamer, KSU vice president for administration, said the university sees this as a fuss-free way to help fraternities and sororities expand.

``There's no properties in the city of Kent that are being considered for zoning for Greek housing,'' he said. ``If one of the organizations wants a house, there's no place they could go.''

The university doesn't provide any housing specifically for Greek groups on campus.

At the same time, membership in KSU's 29 Greek social organizations grew 7 to 10 percent a year to 1,000 this fall, estimated Beth Gittons, KSU assistant director for fraternity and sorority affairs.

The idea came from two Sigma Nu alumni -- Don Flower of Hudson and Gill Herrick of Chagrin Falls, both of whom graduated from Kent in 1960.

Credits Due for These Men of Sigma Nu for Stepping Forward!:cool:

Men of Vision in the Greek World are Few and They are Tops!


May We All Raise Our Hats to them!:cool:

That's cool.

Great idea, and hopefully one that other unis follow. My school for example, continues to pay lip-service to greek calls for housing, but the new med school facilities and football arena have won out. If the school is not willing to take the lead, why not allow private companies.

That's awesome to hear!

On a somewhat related note, I had posted in another thread about a private company,CampusCrest, wanting to build "Greek" apartments which U of West GLOs could rent until the univ built univ Greek apts in several years.

Update: the deal fell through...too expensive, the "Chapter" room wasn't big enough for the memberss now, much less in the future when hopefully we will all grow...plus liability, plus....:rolleyes:

Florida State just completed the same thing! If they want a model, look to Tallahasee. The university gave 45 undeveloped acres to the Leon County Education Housing Authority. FSU put in the parking lots (as a way of expanding student parking) but the school has no ownership of the houses and no authority in the management of the property aside from the fact that University Police have jurisdiction over City Police. The Housing Authority gave the land to a private developer who built 8 gorgeous collegiate-gothic brick fraternity house buildings, each with its own clubhouse for the individual fraternity. Five more fraternities are "equity partners" and have their own land on which they built their own houses. The houses are huge; three have already been built, each at about 40,000 square feet.
The whole complex of 13 houses has a central management facility, a swimming pool and more amenities. Each fraternity house has about 100 parking spots.
And, the 8 fraternities now "renting" their houses can buy them and rennovate to suit themselves. See:
http://www.fsuphidelt.org/index.asp
http://www.lxafsu.com/
http://www.pktfsu.org/
http://www.fsupikes.com/
http://www.tkefsu.com/
http://www.fsuphigam.com/
http://www.fsuato.net/index.html