With their house on East Wheelock Street undergoing extensive renovations this term, the brothers of Chi Heorot fraternity are spending the summer down by the River.
More than half the fraternity is living in the Channing Cox building of the River apartments, according to Heorot Summer term President Eric Sonis '00. The College is renovating many aspects of the fraternity's house, which is owned by the College, Sonis said.
New floors, a new heating system and new plumbing are being put in, Sonis said. In addition, the stairs between floors are being replaced.
Another top priority in the construction is the rewiring of Heorot's Internet connections, according to Sonis.
"The whole thing basically needs to be redone," Sonis said.
Sonis said the College has been planning the renovations to Heorot for several years, but has been putting them off.
"It was definitely in need of it," Sonis said.
Estimates put the cost of the repairs at $900,000.
The renovations are scheduled to be finished by the start of Fall term, he said.
As for life in the Channing Cox apartments, Sonis said the Heorot brotherhood is "making the best of it."
"We'd much rather be living in the house, though," he said.
Earlier this term, representatives of Heorot asked other Coed Fraternity and Sorority associations to allow Heorot to hold meetings in their various houses, Sonis said. Heorot asked the houses to allow them to meet in their houses for one night this term.
So far the response has been good, according to Sonis.
"A lot of them are helping us out," Sonis said.
Heorot's house has been College-owned since the late 1980s, when the College purchased and renovated several CFS houses during an extensive campaign to improve residential life conditions on campus, according to former Dean of Residential Life Mary Turco.
Heorot was forced to have significant repair work done on the house several years ago, after an accident flooded a portion of the building. Sonis said the earlier repairs are not related to the present ones.
