Omega House Grand Opening USC Greek Village

[ladygreek]

This is not a good economy right now to be making real estate investment ventures. Especially a risky one like this. But I wish the Omega Housing Corporation all the best.

[jitterbug13]

Originally Posted by Wolfman

I'm just laying out the situation without spin. But the issue was not simply about diversity in the Greek Village; it was about who could come up with the "green." Omega was in a position to do it financially. The Omega housing corporation owns the house but leases the land from USC for a nominal fee. In this sense, this venture was like all the other houses. In the final analysis, this is a business investment venture and this project was structured so that the Omega housing corporation makes money off this project, which they want to parlay into other similar ones. The idea from its conception was wider than simply a service to the local (ZZ) chapter at USC.

If if wasn't about diversity, why did President Sorensen personally call Omega headquarters to ask to build a house? He probably looked around and realized that there were no NPHC fraternities and sororities in Greek Village. He had a good relationship with the Omegas when he was at the University of Alabama, so he contacted them.

And about the money thing: If you have some bruhs who are in some major leadership positions: political (Rep. Clyburn), education (Dr. Sellers) and financial/business, they can easily come up with the money. Even though some of the WGLOs do want to look at the money, most of the time they think of fellowship and a gathering place for their members when they build/lease houses, not as a long-term investment.

Originally Posted by ladygreek

This is not a good economy right now to be making real estate investment ventures. Especially a risky one like this. But I wish the Omega Housing Corporation all the best.

Ditto.

[Wolfman]

Originally Posted by jitterbug13

If if wasn't about diversity, why did President Sorensen personally call Omega headquarters to ask to build a house? He probably looked around and realized that there were no NPHC fraternities and sororities in Greek Village. He had a good relationship with the Omegas when he was at the University of Alabama, so he contacted them.

And about the money thing: If you have some bruhs who are in some major leadership positions: political (Rep. Clyburn), education (Dr. Sellers) and financial/business, they can easily come up with the money. Even though some of the WGLOs do want to look at the money, most of the time they think of fellowship and a gathering place for their members when they build/lease houses, not as a long-term investment.



Ditto.

You misquoted me. I didn't say it was not about diversity--you left out "simply." The point I was making was that it was also about the "green". If the "leadership" is not behind the venture and willing to put up some means these types of things won't happen. And you are correct in that well respected Brothers in the financial sector in SC, esp. Tony Grant, was very influential in making this venture happen.

[ladygreek]

Originally Posted by Wolfman

You misquoted me. I didn't say it was not about diversity--you left out "simply." The point I was making was that it was also about the "green". If the "leadership" is not behind the venture and willing to put up some means these types of things won't happen. And you are correct in that well respected Brothers in the financial sector in SC, esp. Tony Grant, was very influential in making this venture happen.

I don't want to denigrate the house. But it seems those resources could have been used to build Omega community centers that could be rented out to community groups for community service programs, similar to how the Omega HQ rents out space to small businesses, and nonprofit groups ( at least they did when we visited the HQ during our ATL national convention) i.e. economic development. Now that impressed me.

A frat house on one campus just does not, to me, seem to me to be a logical investment. But then maybe it is my MBA and social service background coming out.

And again I wish the Housing Corporation well in this venture.

[Wolfman]

Originally Posted by ladygreek

I don't want to denigrate the house. But it seems those resources could have been used to build Omega community centers that could be rented out to community groups for community service programs, similar to how the Omega HQ rents out space to small businesses, and nonprofit groups ( at least they did when we visited the HQ during our ATL national convention) i.e. economic development. Now that impressed me.

A frat house on one campus just does not, to me, seem to me to be a logical investment. But then maybe it is my MBA and social service background coming out.

And again I wish the Housing Corporation well in this venture.

I'm not necessarily an apologist for the project; I'm just laying out the rationale for what was stated. There is a diversity of opinion in the Fraternity about this project (a real understatement!). Per your opinions about what would be more worthy projects, Omega is involved in a project building low income housing in Ensley, Alabama, an economically depressed community.

And the Friendship Foundation, the owner/administrator of the Omega World Center, which includes the Omega IHQ, is trying to get full capacity for the tenant space in this large office bldg. This more aggresive business model represents a different paradigm for the Fraternity in terms of ways and means and has not been fully embraced by all.

[ladygreek]

Originally Posted by Wolfman

I'm not necessarily an apologist for the project; I'm just laying out the rationale for what was stated. There is a diversity of opinion in the Fraternity about this project (a real understatement!). Per your opinions about what would be more worthy projects, Omega is involved in a project building low income housing in Ensley, Alabama, an economically depressed community.

And the Friendship Foundation, the owner/administrator of the Omega World Center, which includes the Omega IHQ, is trying to get full capacity for the tenant space in this large office bldg. This more aggresive business model represents a different paradigm for the Fraternity in terms of ways and means and has not been fully embraced by all.

Good stuff! I hope the Omega World Center is successful, because that to me it a paradigm we should all follow. Can you imagine if all nine of us employed that business model in one form or another--providing incubators for small businesses? Talking about real economic development.

It's one thing to provide low-income housing (don't get me wrong, that is a symptom that needs to be treated) but it's another thing to provide opportunities for wealth creation to prevent the symptom.

Kudos to the Omegas.