With the University of Alabama entering the construction and designing phases of the sorority expansion master plan, every house on sorority row is slated to expand or relocate in the next few years.
“Delta Gamma is already occupied; others are currently under construction; others are in the early stages of design, and others have not been planned or designed yet,” Cathy Andreen, director of media relations, said.
Alpha Gamma Delta, Delta Delta Delta and Alpha Delta Pi are under construction near the already completed Delta Gamma house.
The master plan calls for the demolition of several buildings including the old Delta Delta Delta house, Temple Tutwiler, Barnwell Hall and the HES Design House. This will allow the other sorority houses that are not moving to expand.
Cathy Andreen said each sorority house, either new or renovated, will be approximately 40,000 square feet. To fund the construction and renovations, the University is loaning Kappa Delta, Gamma Phi Beta and Alpha Chi Omega sororities approximately $12 million a piece. The University will also grant Alpha Phi $11 million for renovations. The sororities are responsible for paying the loan back to the University within 30 years, Andreen said.
After the demolitions, Alpha Chi Omega will expand their house onto Delta Delta Delta’s former lot. According to the resolution concerning Alpha Chi Omega’s expansion, the Board of Trustees approved a $12 million loan to the sorority for the project. Alpha Chi Omega will use the funds to expand their house to be approximately 40,000 square feet.
“The growth on sorority row will allow chapters to have more resources to bigger new member classes, thus making the greek system able to serve more students,” said Susan Speaker, the president of Alpha Chi Omega sorority. “As more and more students are recruited to the University each year, the number of people who go through recruitment increases as well. By adding new chapters to our Panhellenic Association and building or expanding current houses, the greek system is working to compensate for the growth of the University.”
With the additions to the Alpha Chi Omega house, Speaker said approximately 80 sisters will be able to live in the house each year, double the 40 sisters that currently live in the house.
The house will be slightly above average in terms of how many people it will house. Andreen said each new or expanded house will be approximately 40,000 square feet, but that most will have between 60 and 70 beds.
By comparison, Alicia Browne, director of Housing and Residential Communities said the University approved spending approximately $66 million on Presidential Village, the new student-housing complex on the north side of campus. Presidential Village is capable of housing 971 students, whereas the four sorority houses that had had their expansions approved by the Board of Trustees in November 2012 will house between 240 and 290 students for approximately $47 million.
The Board of Trustees also passed a resolution to provide Kappa Delta sorority with a $12 million loan to fund their house’s expansion.
Kirkland Back, a junior Kappa Delta from Gadsden, Ala., said the changes to sorority row come with mixed emotions.
“It’s been clear for a while now that everyone was going to have to expand. That’s hard because you lose tradition – you lose the houses where decades of memories have been made,” Back said. “But it’s exciting in that we now have beautiful, new houses to break in. There won’t be a dry eye when the house is torn down, but [Kappa Delta] can’t wait to show everyone the amazing plans we have for our home.”
