The College's Real Estate Office has owned the houses for several years, Redman said. During the June meeting of the Board of Trustees, Board members approved the transfer of the houses from the Real Estate Office to the Office of Residential Life, according to Redman.
"I'm not sure technically [the transfer] has happened yet, but it's in the process and everyone is aware that it's happening," Redman said.
At the moment, the facilities serve as apartment buildings for faculty and staff, Redman said. The College is currently working to relocate those tenants.
In order for Alpha Phi and AZD to receive these new physical plants, ORL must pay the Real Estate Office to permit the transfer.
"In a traditional sense, we're transferring real money from point A to point B to cover the houses going from an endowment investment to a piece of property being used for College educational purposes," Redman said.
In a March interview with The Dartmouth, Redman mentioned ORL's interest in purchasing a total of five houses to be used for sororities, secret societies and other undergraduate purposes. The renovation of the two houses on East Wheelock Street is contributing to ORL's mounting debt, however, and the other three houses will not be purchased in the near future, Redman said.
"My sense would be that over a period of time, call it five years or so, decisions will be made about what the other three houses will be used for," he said. "Problem is, there's money involved in this; I can only do these as quickly as my resources will allow."
About 40 percent of ORL's budget is currently borrowed, Redman said, and after the ongoing renovations of the New Hampshire Residence Hall -- a $12 million project that began during the spring -- are complete, that debt will increase to 45 percent.
Before the houses on East Wheelock Street will be ready for use by the sororities, architects need to renovate each of the buildings, Redman said. ORL received the last of several of architectural proposals on Monday, and will soon decide which architect to use for both houses, he added.
Once the architect is selected, he will draw floor plans of the existing facilities and begin renovations, Redman said. The buildings will be redesigned to include larger social spaces and more bedrooms and bathrooms, he said. Redman added that new ramps and staircases will also be added to make the buildings handicap accessible.
"Currently, one building is four apartments and one building is five apartments," Redman said. "Really, the structure of the buildings will remain and the rest will be totally redesigned."
Redman estimated that the architects would need from August to December to draw the floor plans, adding that the goal is to start construction in January. Though he said he hopes the buildings will be ready for the sororities by Fall 2009, the worst-case scenario will be January 2010.
AZD is continuing to work with ORL to meet its housing needs, and "is grateful to ORL for its efforts to find and purchase new houses for both AZD and Alpha Phi," AZD President Lauren DeNatale '09 said in an e-mail message to The Dartmouth. Members of AZD and Alpha Phi refused further requests for comment.
