SEMO FACELIFT: MAJOR RENOVATIONS OF GREEK HOUSING PLANNED

Southeast Missouri State University's fraternity and sorority row could get a major facelift under a plan being considered by the school administration.

Dr. Dale Nitzschke, Southeast president, said the university wants to renovate five of the six houses that make up the Greek complex.

The work would be done in stages. Renovations could begin on two or three of the buildings this fall. Students would live in the Towers residence halls while the Greek dormitories are being renovated, school officials said.

The sixth residential building in the Greek complex would be torn down for parking, and the Greek dining hall would be absorbed into a polytechnic building that would be constructed on the hillside. Construction of the polytechnic building could begin this year.

The school wants to expand and renovate the Towers dining area to provide enough seating for Greek-housing students and the students who live in the Towers high-rise complex.

Office space also would be provided for Greek organizations and campus residence hall associations in the expanded Towers facility.

"This plan, if it goes, will accommodate a lot of different student needs," Nitzschke said.

The improvements to Greek housing would include installation of air conditioning; interior renovations including new carpeting, shelves and electrical wiring; some window and roof work; and landscaping, he said.

The residence halls that house fraternities and sororities aren't air conditioned.

The Greek complex residence halls were built in the early 1960s. The complex has been in need of major renovations for a number of years, school officials said.

Dr. Kenneth Dobbins, university executive vice president, said the school can build a larger polytechnic building by making use of the old Greek dining hall. It could add about 24,000 square feet to the structure, he said.

In all, the polytechnic building would be about 60,000 square feet. It would house the university's industrial technology program and provide space for customized training for industries, Dobbins said.

The building would be two to three stories tall on the west side at the top of the hill. "It will be very impressive," he said.

The project would provide additional parking and a new road from the Greek housing area to Sprigg Street.

Dobbins said the polytechnic building could cost about $8 million. The university hopes to secure $5.6 million from the state for the project. The rest of the money is expected to come from private contributions.

Renovations to Greek housing would be funded through a bond issue financed by increased student fees, he said.

Dobbins said food-service companies suggested five years ago that the university close its dining facilities in Greek housing and Dearmont residence hall in favor of expanded dining services in the Towers complex. The university later closed Dearmont as a residence hall and cafeteria. It now contains university offices.

Dobbins said the university wants to convert the Towers dining area into a food court. The expanded dining area could be open 24 hours a day.

The projects are part of a series of capital improvements planned for the campus. The administration plans to discuss the improvement plans at a Board of Regents meeting March 25. Dobbins said the board isn't expected to approve the projects at the meeting.

School officials still haven't calculated the price tag for improvements that include construction of a student center. Typically, the regents set student fees for the next school year when they meet in March. But with the construction projects being considered, regents won't adopt a new fee schedule until late April, Dobbins said.

Any hike in student fees to finance construction projects would be phased in over several years, he said.

Dobbins said all of the projects are linked in various ways. Scheduling becomes critical for such projects, he said.

For example, the University Commons project would involve construction of a student center that would envelope existing Parker Hall. But work can't be done at Parker Hall until tennis courts are built as part of the improvements to the recreation fields, and a dance studio and gymnasium are constructed as part of the expansion of the Student Recreation Center, Dobbins said.

"All of those dominoes are there," he said. "It is somewhat mindboggling to try to figure out."

Dobbins said the construction projects are spelled out in the campus master plan. School officials didn't dream up the projects overnight, he said. The Greek housing renovation project, for example, has been in the planning stages for over a year, Dobbins said.

"We are trying to renovate and upgrade the whole campus," he said.