Soon the sight of fences, the sound of power tools and the bustle of construction workers around Kappa Delta sorority and the Triangle House, a living learning community focusing on LGBTQ issues, will be distant memories. Construction on both buildings is set to finish this month in time to allow for fall student occupancy, residential operations director Woody Eckels said.
While the Triangle House, located on 4 North Park Street, is a renovation of current housing for faculty and staff, KD’s house will be a new construction.
Eckels said that the respective construction and renovation projects are both on schedule to open this upcoming fall.
In contrast, Panarchy undergraduate society is likely to remain closed for the upcoming term, he said, due to the ongoing review and permitting process the group is working on. On June 27, residents of Panarchy had to vacate the building after the house was closed due to a failed safety check.
“Sometimes new construction is easier than major renovation,” Eckels said.
The goal for both KD and the Triangle House is to have furniture for student residence moved in by Aug. 18 and to have the remaining common room furniture installed by Sept. 13, Eckels said. Classes begin on Sept. 15.
The Triangle House still shows evidence of ongoing construction. Fences and work site materials will be removed in the coming weeks and extensive landscaping will begin on Wednesday, he said.
“It will be a pretty quick changeover of what you see today and what you’ll see in a couple of weeks,” he said.
Members of Panarchy and the Hanover Fire Department met last week to review a plan that the members and a separate architect had developed for work on the house, Eckels said.
He said he was not sure if the department had reviewed the proposal but said that the level of proposed work may prohibit an early opening.
Work will likely not begin until the end of August, he said. This delay, he said, would prevent students from living there. As a result, the members of the group slated to live in Panarchy in the fall have been contacted by residential life and encouraged to apply for other housing options, he said.
Panarchy member Kelsey Weimer ’16 confirmed that the group had hired an architect and said the organization is still acquiring a permit to begin construction. She added that the committee responsible for reviewing the permit application will likely take several weeks, which has led many in the organization to conclude that the house will not open in the fall.
The cost of the construction and repairs so far has been estimated to be around six figures, which was less than many anticipated, she said. The group is exploring the option of college funding, she said.
Constructing KD and renovating Triangle House took approximately a year with ground breaking in September and October of 2013, respectively.
KD president Bay Lauris ByrneSim ’15 wrote in a statement to The Dartmouth that the sorority is excited to have a physical plant. The house will allow them to hold more campus-wide events, and members will not have to rely on common areas for things such as recruitment, she noted.
Akash Kar ’16, a co-chair of IvyQ, which will host an IvyQ conference this fall, said the house is an “incredible asset” for Dartmouth and represents a safe place for everyone, regardless of sexual orientation. He added that, to his knowledge, many of the rooms in the affinity house had already been filled.
“It’s beautiful housing, it’s close to the gym, it’s a pretty exciting place to live,” he said.
