Beta Theta Pi - Oklahoma State University

NEWS Big Red Island Beta Theta Pi at Oklahoma State University / Fall 2018 Think Back. Think Big. Think Beta. Campaign Reaches $3.5 Million Raised Progress as Promised! O n Thursday May 17, 2018, construction officially began on the New Beta House at 1207 with the ceremonious start of demolition of The Big Red Island. Built in 1939 through 1940 it would take over two weeks to erase almost 80 years of the bricks and mortar of history and tradition. As this is written the house that we all called home at some point in our lives is no more. But like the Phoenix rising from the ashes so to is a New Beta House. As so many of us have promised, progress is being made to create the Beta House that will take our fraternity into the future. You can now begin to see progress rising out of the earth. Like our Beta experience gave so many of us, a strong and lasting structure requires a strong foundation and a strong foundation is what we are giving the New Beta House. In the months that followed the demolition, 73 piers have been drilled and poured to depths ranging from twenty to thirty feet. Almost 75% of the underground plumbing work is complete. With weather permitting, the plumbing will be completed, and the first- floor concrete will be poured in early October. With the pouring of the first floor, you will begin to see the New Beta House take shape as structural steel, trusses and studs begin to rise. We hope that you will see good progress at Homecoming. So, you ask, when will our New Beta House be done? The targeted completion date is August of 2019. Whether that can be accomplished will depend on many factors that always affect construction projects. We are hoping for the best and planning for something different. Many thanks should go to Parker Strickland '88, for stepping into the breach last year and working to secure the Old Pike House as a temporary home for over half of the active members of the Chap- ter. As we reported in past newsletters, when the Pikes acquired their new property at Monroe and University, they transferred the Old Pike House to the Oklahoma State Foundation. The Foundation had no use for or desire to manage the property and quickly discarded it to the University. Recognizing the significance of this vacant property and our upcoming need, Parker Strickland began discussions with the University over a year ago. The Beta Theta Pi Building Corporation quickly negotiated a lease with the University and in January, on the eve of signing the lease, a group of Sigma Chi alumni negotiated a purchase of the property. For a fleeting moment we thought all was lost, but the University mandated that the Sigma Chi group "take care of the Betas". Before closing on the purchase, the Sigma Chi group received several other offers from fraternities and sororities to rent the Old Pike house and a bidding war could have followed. However, the Sigma Chi's being the honorable group they are, took care of the Betas and they were glad to do it. The lease of the Old Pike House provides the Betas a reasonably low rental rate but required us to renovate the property. We took posses- sion of the Old Pike House in mid-April and spent the next 4 months repairing a property that had been poorly maintained and vandalized. A short story could be written on the Old Pike House that wanted to be a Beta House and for a short time was, but we will save that for another day. Suffice it to say that the renovation was no small task and many thanks go to Barrett Aufleger '07 and C-Star Management for overseeing the project and solving many problems as inexpensively as possible. Today, approximately 40 Betas are housed in the old Acacia house, aka the Beta Annex, aka Little Beta, and approximately 60 Be- tas are in the Old Pike House. That was a long lead-in to explain that should construction run over into the fall of 2019, we have already begun discussions with the Sig- ma Chi group to extend our lease into the fall of 2019. No matter how that story ends, once again Betas will leave something better than when we found it. You should be receiving this newsletter in the week leading up to Homecoming. The Chapter is hosting a tailgating tent before the foot- ball games and we hope to see you there for Homecoming and at the walk around. With all of the construction on campus the location of the tailgate has moved and lately has been west of the stadium. Pay attention to e-mail notices for the Homecoming location. Expect to see our next Big Red Island after the New Year with an up- date on construction, construction costs, and fundraising. Speaking of fundraising, as you complete your year-end financial planning please consider making or extending your gift to the building campaign. To be continued… Yours in _ kai _. Greggory T. Colpitts '88 Treasurer, Beta Theta Pi Building Corporation Larry Maguire '65 Campaign Committee Chapter house continues on path of excellence. See Page 10.

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