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I haven’t seen the place myself, but these photos make it look like a sorority moved in. In a good way. The remodel was so extensive it’s hard to recognize the place in some of these shots. Again, that is a good thing.
This wasn’t just some superficial interior remodel – the 1st floor was totally gutted, the foundation was jacked up and leveled, a fire sprinkler system was installed – major work. Big thanks to our general contractor, John Bakke of Chico Home Improvement, Reese McClure who did the tiling, architect Greg Peitz, and the brothers at the Norwich Housing Corporation for helping see this project through.
Plenty of work left to do on the rest of the house, but Phase 1 is complete. Phase 2Â (2nd floor, attic, exterior, etc.) is doable, but we need donations to help fund it.
These photos from last week show how close the remodel work is to completion…really close. And it’s looking pretty good. Check out the custom red and white shower tiles.
Right at this moment the work is actually very close to done…even more than these photos show. Undergrads have moved back to the house to start school…and that will be the real test of the quality of construction.
We’re already talking to National about “phase 2” of the remodel where we plan to re-do the rest of the house (2nd floor, attic, basement, and exterior). The deal is, we have to come up with some of the money ourselves (through donations)…here’s your chance to help: donate now
If you have been by 5th and Ivy in Chico recently you may have seen the boards on the windows of the house, and maybe you noticed that some interior walls and whatnot were missing. No, the house is not condemned – we’re actually doing a remodel. We submitted a ‘successful’ loan application to National this year – and after a bunch of back and forth, dotting i’s and crossing t’s, we wer approved for a ~$470,000 loan (some of which is being used to remodel the 1st floor and make life safety improvements).
Check back for more pics as the work progresses. The house will be ready for move-in by August 15, but finishing work will continue into the fall semester…so it’ll be a little while before it’s all polished.
This is how we’re using the funds:
Payoff existing 11% mortgage (yes, 11%) from Gary Foster and 5th & Ivy Partners: ~$175,000
Life safety repairs (including foundation leveling, new doors & locks, sprinklers, fire alarms, rain gutters, etc.): ~$65,000
Remodel 1st Floor interior and some exterior (including full kitchen, functional living room, real dining room (red and white room), new windows and doors, remodel 1st floor bedrooms and bathrooms and (this is pretty cool) extending the main staircase to the basement: ~$230,000
Here’s the catch: we obviously have to pay this money back…it’s a loan, not a grant. Overall our monthly expenses will go up about 50%…so we raised dues and rent accordingly for the chapter this year so that we (they) can afford the new higher loan payments.
Why remodel only the interior of the 1st floor?
Because (1) tht is the area that needed the most love and (2) this loan wouldn’t afford us much more than that. The plan is to start a fundraising campaign and raise enough from alumni to cover a some of the rest of the work on the 2nd floor, attic, basement, and exterior. It may be a 2- or 3-phase project when it’s all said and done…but the plan is to re-do the whole house within the next 5 years. We are relying heavily on alumni donations to help us fund phase 2 of the remodel – hopefully to start in or around 2012: Donations Appreciated
Props:
There are a lot of guys that deserve credit for getting this loan approved, organizing the contractors, and just generally seeing this project through, but the one guy who stuck it out when the alumni board was losing steam, held things together, assembled a new board, and continues to donate time and effort to the cause is Tom Hyatt. No way would this be happening without him. Big thanks to Jereme Grinslade of Theta Chi’s Norwich Housing Board and the guys at Chico Home Improvement as well.
This past year, and especially the Spring semester, have been outstanding times for Eta Omega. Over the course of the year Theta Chi placed first in the campus-wide Greek Week philanthropy/competition, raised hundreds of dollars for hurricane victims, won the football championship, and most importantly increased chapter membership by 29 initiates! In the Fall semester alone we recruited 19 new men, setting us up to retain the ‘top house’ position on campus for the ’09-’10 academic year. In addition to these achievements Eta Omega has worked to become debt-free, paying off all amounts owed to the National Fraternity, and is working toward obtaining a new loan for a major house re-model.
A new executive board has been elected as well, consisting of Dustin Pesch as President, Joey Combs and Andrew Chalmers as Internal and External Vice Presidents, respectively, Ex-President Adam Shea as Treasurer, and Blayne Davis as Secretary. The new Executive Board and the chapter are committed to improving brotherhood and participation, and taking any necessary steps to obtain a loan to continue to improve our standing in the eyes of potential new members, the campus community, and the National Fraternity.
This upcoming year will boast as many if not more achievements as last year, and will be exciting for everyone involved – both active and alumni.
Cheers,
Andrew Chalmers
External Vice President
Theta Chi, Eta Omega Chapter
Don’t forget alumni weekend is coming up. This one is being organized by alumni, for alumni. It’s all-Greek, so you’re bound to see some familiar faces. More event details on the ‘Events’ page: http://www.etaomega.org/events/
The Mid-Year Alumni Conference is being held in Stockton on February 21. It’s a half-day event that involves round-table style discussion with other alumni (of all ages) from all Nor Cal chapters.
We need one or two volunteers to go! As soon as we get a volunteer we’ll update this page and let you know. Right now we’re still looking.
If you can spare a few hours of your Saturday, please…
Eta Omega Chapter President, Adam Shea and Andrew Chalmers attend the 15th Annual B. Nelson Deranian Presidents Conference (DPC) for chapter, colony, and interest group leaders will in Indianapolis. Their flights apparently sucked but they had a good time anyway (even though they couldn’t find any Alpha Phi’s to party with).
When it was all said and done, they both learned many new best practices that help create and maintain successful chapters across the nation. Andrew later said, “I was fortunate enough to see Jereme Grinsdale at the goodbye dinner … he is excited to see what we have in store and he touched on what the chapter also needs to be on track for to be considered for the loan… GRADES.  Last semester we were above our required average for the school and our pledge class had the highest GPA among the other fraternities.” Keep those grades in check gentleman!
The Chico State campus has had some recent news as well:
Chico will honor Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday by organizing a series of events, film showings, lectures, and nature hikes.
Chico State’s Career Center, Best in the West!A 2007 survey of recruiters rated 70 percent of Chico State students Outstanding or Above Average compared to students at other universities. Over 83 percent rated our Career Center operations as either Outstanding or Above Average.
Forbes Magazine ranked CSU, Chico 24th in the nation among all public universities for the median salaries of its graduates, based on a 2008 study by PayScale.com, which looked at the earnings of college graduates with 10-20 years of work experience.
You should have received a copy of this e-mail newsletter on 1/30/2009. If not it means we don’t have your current e-mail address – so send it to us and get on the mailing list for future newsletters.
Eta Omega Alumni Update – Jan 2009
We’re Going BigÂ
Here it is – your annual e-newsletter, with updates from all the key players in the Eta Omega Alumni Board, the Active Exec, and “members at large.” Catch up on 2008, then tune in and chip in for a huge 2009. Read more
