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Sorority houses are looking a lot different these days.
As The Wall Street Journal writes, many sororities around the nation are either building multimillion dollar houses or are renovating their homes to provide high-end accommodations for their members.
Top-tier sorority houses, which are usually owned by Greek organizations and not by universities, are getting features such as blow-dry bars, gold-leaf molding and craft rooms for making banners and pompoms. An enrollment spike in the 2010s has led to larger, better-equipped facilities.
At the University of Alabama, members of the Delta Zeta sorority live in a $17 million, 40,000-square-foot home with a grand staircase, a crystal chandelier and a custom leaded-glass window displaying the group’s logo. At the University of Oklahoma, the Kappa Alpha Theta chapter is spending about $14 million to renovate and add 10,000 square feet to its circa-1932 house.
In part, these hefty budgets are due to rising construction costs across the country—sorority houses are also usually required to be ADA-compliant and meet commercial building standards, contributing heavily to the cost. Most houses also serve as dining rooms to its members, requiring large kitchens and serving rooms, adding to the expense, says Charles Watson of the Mississippi-based architecture firm Pryor Morrow.
Sorority houses now cost about $450 to $550 a square foot to build, up from $300 to $375 a square foot a few years ago, he says. The groups, which take out loans and solicit alumni donations to pay for the work, are willing to foot the bill in part because spiffy accommodations are an important tool for recruitment week, or rush.
