The face of Riverside is changing. In the past week, Frat Row said goodbye to two old houses and is welcoming Phi Gamma Delta fraternity to the neighborhood.
Former houses of Sigma Tau Gamma, Theta Chi and Lambda Chi were demolished. Sigma Phi Epsilon purchased the land the Sigma Tau Gamma and Theta Chi houses were on for $300,000, said Don Park, president of Sigma Phi Epsilon's alumni and volunteer corporation.
Sigma Phi Epsilon is in the process of developing plans for the home it will build on the property. Park said the fraternity estimates it will spend around $2 million on the home, which he hopes will come mostly from alumni donations.
FIJI is currently moving from 1417 Wheeling Ave. to 900 W. Riverside Ave. this fall. The fraternity has gone into a three year lease with Ball State University to occupy the property. The lease on the Wheeling house ends this month, so that property was not a concern, Merkel said.
Most of the members have already moved into the new house. Thirty will be living there this fall. FIJI President Marty Merkel said the fraternity members have spent most of the summer renovating and cleaning up the Riverside home.
"We basically had about five work weekends with about 20 or 30 guys and their family and friends to come and work," he said.
Cara Luyster, adviser of Ball State's fraternity and sorority, said the students have put a lot of effort into their move.
"For the fraternity, it's a great way to kick off the school year," she said. "It's a result of a lot of hard work of the undergraduate and graduate students."
Luyster said the changes on Riverside could brighten the fraternity community.
"It can be difficult to let go of things that have happened in the past when you have houses down there with letters of a frat that doesn't exist anymore," she said. "It's kind of like those houses were kind of ghosts."
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