With a history nearly as old as UCLA itself, the Sigma Zeta chapter of Zeta Psi Fraternity is currently working to rebuild their property at 611 Gayley Ave.
The Zeta Psi house has been uninhabited for nearly four years, but current members of the chapter, with the strong backing of the chapter’s alumni, now hope to have their new house built by fall recruitment 2009.
Alumnus Rick Glowe, the president of the Sigma Zeta Home Association, said he sees the chapter moving in a new and exciting direction, especially once the house is built.
The home association is responsible for overlooking repairs and renovations to UCLA Zeta Psi’s house.
“We want to provide an environment that’s like student housing suites,” Glowe said. “The house will also be environmentally safe and heated using “˜green’ methods.”
The house on Gayley was originally purchased by Zeta Psi in 1978, and it was used until 1994, when the chapter was dissolved due to a decrease in membership.
They leased the house to Sigma Epsilon Phi from 1995 to 2005.
In 2002, Zeta Psi was reactivated on campus, with the intention of eventually moving back into their house after Sigma Epsilon’s lease expired, said Glowe.
However, in the winter of 2005, a tree fell onto the house, making it uninhabitable.
For nearly four years, the house sat empty amid negotiations between Zeta Psi and the owners and insurance companies of an adjacent property while they decided on the final plans for the renovations.
“We had to negotiate with them to combine resources and fix problems,” Glowe said.
“It stretched out over several years, and the property was kind of caught in the middle. There was community resentment because of the abandoned building.”
It wasn’t until October 2007 that Zeta Psi was able to take complete responsibility for the renovation of the property, and the alumni board quickly hired engineers to determine what needed to be done to the property to make it safe again.
“We didn’t want to demo the property until the plans had been finished,” said Glowe. “The plans must meet Westwood and L.A. city building regulations.”
Phi Kappa Psi President Pierce Collins said his fraternity made an offer to buy the property, but they were turned down.
He said that homeless people were seen coming in and out of the abandoned house, though Glowe denies that vagrants ever used the property.
Collins also said that the abandoned house was a fire hazard, and it caught fire several times.
Collins said he thinks a new house for Zeta Psi could help the Greek system as a whole.
His fraternity plans on rebuilding their own house in the next several years.
“It would give frat-side a “˜Hilgard-esque’ feel and make it more welcoming,” Collins said.
He said the Greek houses on Hilgard Avenue sometimes look nicer than the fraternity houses on Gayley Avenue.
Glowe said he intends for the house to be an environment that is geared toward education.
He said he hopes that renovations will not only improve Zeta Psi’s reputation, but the reputation of all fraternities at UCLA.
He said many fraternities have reputations and stereotypes that include constant drinking and the hazing of new pledges, and he wants Zeta Psi to be a fraternity where everyone is comfortable.
“We want to offer a much different class of frat living then presently offered,” Glowe said.
“It will be a very positive thing for the community and for all fraternities.”