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Since 1961 PiKA has leased the chapter house located at 1525 E. Drachman. A number of you probably spent many days in that house.

As originally written in the lease, one of three things could happen with the property; the property could be purchased by the fraternity for the price of the land, the University could purchase the property for the fair market value, or the lease could be renewed (for more current rates) in Aug 2001. In August 1998, we began speaking with the University about purchasing the property.

There were a number of hurdles we had to overcome before the purchase could actually be executed. First, the University insisted that we settle our debt with TKE fraternity for the 1st St. property. They had become involved in the TKE deal as they were trying to purchase that property from TKE. Brother Dave Lerner took on the daunting task of dealing with TKE's lawyers to settle the debt. Second, all chapter debt with the University had to be resolved. I took on the task of paying off IFC, Greek Life, and University Police. Third, the Gamma Delta housing corporation's records had to be in good standing with the State of Arizona. Brothers Chris Halligan, Eric Baker, Dave Lerner and myself reconstructed the Gamma Delta Housing Corporation and squared all records with the state.

By mid October all conditions had been met to proceed with a purchase. The first round of escrow instructions were a bit of joke coming from the University. They wanted to transfer the property with a quit claim deed that basically stated.. if for any reason the University ceased to recognize the undergraduate chapter they (University) had the option purchase the property back. With the legal advice of brother Doug Dunipace, that language was promptly removed from the deed. The University quickly backed off, stating that they just put this in there as a favor if we should have future problems.

After several rounds of closing language we were ready to purchase the property in November. Just one problem, the University misspelled the Corp. name on the documents at the title company. Back to the University it went for another three weeks. Finally on December 3rd the sale closed.

The price of the house was $88,000. All of the moneys needed to do this deal came from alumni funds (donated by alumni), and a gracious last minute bridge loan by one of our alumni brothers.

Needless to say the house was a complete wreck when we took possession. Vagrants had been living there from time to time and other fraternities had been using the place as a parts replacement shop. All windows were boarded and not a solid piece of glass in the building. Heating and cooling system had been completely removed, not a single door (interior or exterior) in any kind of usable condition. Most of the fire alarm system was missing parts (probably now hanging in other fraternity houses)... but the place still looked great to us, as it was now ours.

Next battle the city, and getting the place cleaned up. To be continued...

Fred Hirsch '85

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