Foundation Plans Ambitious Sorority-Housing Project
Education: 2,000 New Units Should House About 6,000 Students at SDSU
BY DENISE T. WARD
Staff Writer
Construction is already under way at San Diego State University for a one-of-a-kind fraternity housing project.
Now the university’s foundation has started the process to develop a similar project for SDSU sororities.
The SDSU Foundation recently hired Los Angeles-based Steinberg Group as the architect for Sorority Row, a housing project located in the school’s College Community Redevelopment area. Foundation officials said it’s too early to determine how much the project will cost or how it will be designed. They do know it will be located on a 1.56-acre lot on the west side of College Avenue. They also know it will solve a critical need for housing additional students.
“Currently there is a demand for about 10,000 beds on or near the campus,” a foundation spokesperson said in a statement. “SDSU Foundation plans to develop about 2,000 units, housing approximately 6,000 more students within walking distance of campus.”
Projects like Fraternity and Sorority Row will provide additional housing for SDSU Greek affiliations, but not the general student population.
The project, however, is expected to decrease traffic congestion around the campus during peak periods, because a larger number of students would park where they live and either walk or bike to class.
The project is also expected to increase parking inventory. Since parking must be underground for these types of housing projects, more spaces should be available in SDSU parking garages.
It has not been determined if the sororities choosing to reside at Sorority Row would purchase or lease the property from the Foundation. Currently, nine SDSU sororities own houses surrounding the campus. Some of those houses are more than 50 years old and are not technologically updated.
“We’re tired of running these houses that are old and that we can’t provide the students with the technology they need for their education,” said Alice Buck, a member of Sigma Kappa’s corporation board, which owns and operates the sorority’s current house. “All of the nine sororities with houses now are interested in investigating being a part of Sorority Row.”
Buck said the housing development has been a topic of discussion for more than 10 years. She said Sorority Row would finally bring the groups into the modern age.
The Steinberg Group has designed several California State University residential facilities, including projects at Fullerton, Monterey Bay and Humboldt, as well as the Schwab Residential Center at Stanford University.
Construction of SDSU’s Sorority Row is expected to begin next year, with sorority members moving in by the summer of 2004.
