New IHQ For Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.

[NinjaPoodle]

Since the link is no longer good, here's an article.

CARY - Cary has edged out Atlanta and Chicago to lure the international headquarters of Sigma Gamma Rho, a historically black sorority now based in Chicago.

Sigma Gamma Rho will open its new office in February after acquiring in December the 18,000-square-foot Colony on Weston Parkway II building, which is on Southill Drive. The group, through its Seven Pearls Foundation Inc., paid nearly $2.7 million for the building that First Colony Corp. of Charlotte built in 2000.

Prominent Sigma alumni include U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown of Florida, actresses Tonia Williams and Victoria Rowell and the Rev. Willie T. Barrow, co-chairwoman of the Rainbow-Push Coalition.

Jennifer Jones, the transition leader in charge of preparing the Cary office, says the group surveyed about 100 properties in Georgia, Illinois and North Carolina. She says the Cary building was chosen for its square footage, proximity to the airport and the area's overall business climate.

"After surveying properties, we determined the North Carolina property met all our needs and also noted that North Carolina is one of the best places to relocate a business," Jones says. The Cary Chamber of Commerce has been assisting Jones' efforts in part by donating use of work space.

Sigma Gamma Rho has three active graduate chapters in Raleigh, Durham and Cary with a total of about 100 members. The sorority has undergraduate chapters at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University in Durham, North Carolina Central University in Durham, and Shaw University and Saint Augustine's College, both in Raleigh.

Jones says the sorority eventually plans to add more staff to work with its growing membership, which includes about 85,000 women in more than 400 chapters in the United States, Bermuda, the Virgin Islands, the Bahamas and Germany.

Though small in the number of new jobs for the region, the sorority brings other qualities. For example, it will host a leadership conference this summer for about 500 of its top chapter leaders at Cary's Embassy Suites hotel, which is near the new headquarters building.

Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc. was organized in 1922 in Indianapolis, Ind., by seven school teachers. The group became an incorporated national collegiate sorority on Dec. 30, 1929, when a charter was granted to Alpha chapter at Butler University.