The Phi Delta Theta fraternity’s three-plus-year wait for a new house will continue for at least another month.
Roger Heineken, Emporia State administrative officer and a Phi Delta Theta alumnus, said the fraternity originally hoped to have a certificate of occupancy for the new house at 1326 Highland Street by the beginning of this semester. But the recent ice and snow storms have delayed construction, and Heineken said the hope now is for Phi Delta Theta to take possession in the middle of February, one month after Wednesday’s start of the semester.
But in the interim, the Phi Delta brothers won’t be living out of Dumpsters and wielding torn cardboard signs. Heineken said some of them were already living in the residence halls, where the university is letting them stay on a week-to-week basis. Others had their own apartments, but ESU Residential Life Director Craig Reinehr said those students are getting set up with a program to temporarily check in to the residence halls.
“We do a short-term contract until about the middle of February, which is about what their proposed end date is,” Reinehr said. “And then if it doesn’t get finished — because we know construction projects can get pushed for many different reasons — we’ll let ’em stay as long as they need.”
The big project still remaining on the exterior of the house is the two-story porch on the west face, but the ground has been too muddy to operate a lift machine needed for that project. Heineken said it’s hoped that the porch project will begin next week.
“And our cold temperatures, of course, have delayed certain concrete work outdoors,” he said. “That’s another problem the weather has caused. Much of the interior is actually finished. We’re just tweaking and fine-tuning, but the big projects remain on the outside of the house.”
The 1326 Highland Street location is the site of Phi Delta Theta’s old home. The fraternity lived in a house there from 1969 until 1984, when it moved to 1005 Merchant Street.
JohnDoe (anonymous) says...
Anyone know the status of the 1005 Merchant house? Wasn't it going to be converted to a bed & breakfast? Week after week I see the same junk sitting on the porch.
January 21, 2008 at 7:10 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )