The Pi Kappa Phi Housing Corporation of the Year designation is given for the most outstanding and most effective relationship between a housing corporation and a chapter. In recent history, the House Corporation of the Year award has gone to housing corporations who have undertaken the daunting task of fundraising and renovating or constructing a new fraternity house. This includes Kappa (Chapel Hill), Beta Alpha (NJIT), and Omicron (Alabama). This year we awarded the recipient for continued success.
The resume begins in 2007 when the fraternity recolonized the Beta Eta Chapter at Florida State University. The new chapter and alumni faced a significant challenge as the chapter’s house, once a special home, had fallen into disrepair through neglect and vandalism by the fraternity that was renting it while Beta Eta was dormant.
The House Corporation wasted no time and was able to secure a $325,000 loan from a local bank and with the active assistance of Brother Brian Baber. Baber was the House Corporation president at the time and is also a licensed general contractor and home builder in nearby Panama City. The Corporation was able to remake the chapter house into something better than it ever was before. The complete renovation, inside and out, of the house was completed on-time and on-budget.
A team of alumni also led by Brother Eric Wahlen built and supervised a complex construction pro forma and set up key internal systems which includes the production of monthly financial statements and a unique approach to leasing which has yielded increased ownership of the house by the student tenants. Since 2008, the house has been full each semester with a waiting list to move in.
Since 2008 they have finished each year “in the black” and have been able to build a strategic, board-designated reserve of over $115,000 while maintaining a cushion of $20,000 or more in unallocated cash in their operating account.
Lastly, the House Corporation has learned from the past and fully embrace the property management adage that, “deferred maintenance never pays.” As such, they continue to invest in capital projects that help keep Beta Eta Chapter a competitively house chapter. The most recent example of this was a landscape / paver project in conjunction with the Beta Eta Alumni Chapter whereby brothers were able to purchase an inscribe, brick paver. This project not only improved the aesthetics of the house, but brought students and alumni together.
The 2015 recipient signifies a body of work which exemplifies the commanding combination of loyal alumni and tireless effort. There has been a complete turnover in leadership in house corporation officers since 2007 but not in results. The Beta Eta House Corporation continues to produce exceptional results.