^Letu J'lil (^xttCL Vol. I March, 1964 No. 2 REPORT FROM THETA INCORPORATED Editor's Note: At the last meeting of Theta, Inc., the following report was prepared by the Trustees to further inform the interested brothers on new house develop ments. Due to the importance of this report it is being published in this special edition. The Trustees also asked Brother Fred Maxwell (Ala., '10), for his comments about the feasibility of repairing or remodeling the house. As many of you know. Brother Maxwell had a haird in building the present house, and is the retired consulting engineer for the University. He said that the present house is built with a "balloon" type construction, in which the studs run from the floor level of the first floor to the ceiling of the second floor. The floor joists for the second floor are just tied in to This report is submitted so that every interested FIJI the studs. Brother Maxwell felt that the construction will know more completely the extent of the damage to of the present house will not stand up well enough to justify repairing or remodeling the house. the old house, the details of the fire insurance settle ment, and the plans of Theta Chapter, Theta Incorpo the wings were added 1926. The house is of brick As an example of the weakness of the construction of the present house before the fire, the second floor had sagged so much that in some of the rooms there was a space of almost an inch between the walls and the veneer construction. It contains 8864 square feet plus ceiling. rated and the board of chapter advisors. The center of the old house was built in 1914, and the area of the basement and attic. While it would house 33 men, only 22 were living there when the fire occurred. In 1961 the house was appraised, for fire insurance purposes, at an insurable value of $81,926. Theta, Inc., Theta, Inc., has assets of approximately $45,900. ($32,958 fire insurance proceeds, $11,000 in a savings account, $1,000 in a checking account and $900 in a special fund which can be used only for a new house.) carried $68,500 fire insurance on the house, enough to satisfy the co-insurance clause requirements. If we were to repair the present house, the cost would probably exceed the $45,000 assets of Theta, Inc., and On the day after the fire. Brother Meredith asked a contractor acceptable to the fire insurance companies we would have to go into debt. and to Theta, Inc., to submit an estimate of the cost of repairing the house. The contractor submitted a repair estimate of $40,344.79. He would not, however, agree to repair the house for this amount, because he could not If we remodel the present house, as the D.K.E.'s have done, this would probably cost us around $100,000 to $110,000, and we would have to borrow around $60,000. When the work was completed we would still have a 50 year old house. tell until he started the work what other damage might have been done by the fire. He would agree to repair the house only on a cost plus basis. The University of Alabama will allow us to build a new house on our present lot. Repairing the present house would require a trew roof, new floors, new plastering and painting. The of traditional design. A new house must be of fireproof construction, and house would be in better condition with the new roof, floors, plastering and painting than it was before the fire. For example, the floor in the living room was so worn that it could not be sanded. The Trustees of Theta, Inc., and the fire insurance companies used the $40,344.79 repair estimate as the basis for the settlement of the fire insurance claim. From this estimate, less than 20%, or $7,386.99, was deducted as a reasonable allocation of the extent that the netv materials would improve the condition of the The University will loan us $2 for every $1 that we contribute, up to $125,000 for the University and $62,500 for us. The loan would be repayable at 5% over 25 years. Payments of $8,775 a year will be required to amortize a $125,000 loan. This is $975 a month, on a nine months a year basis. To make such payments and maintain a reserve for insurance premiums and emer gencies, Theta, Inc., would have to increase the rent from Theta Chapter from $500 a month to $1,200 a repaired house over its condition before the fire. The month on a nine months ba.sis. At least one under claim for the damage to the house was settled for graduate chapter in a new house is paying its house corporation $1,200 a month on a nine months basis. Theta Chapter feels that it can pay $1,200 a month rent and keep the house bills of its members at an amount competitive with the house bills of other chapters. $32,957.80. There was $20,000 insurance on the furniture in the house. This claim has been settled for $6,901.45. The Trustees asked Mr. Paul Speake, a Birmingham architect, to examine the damaged house. Mr. Speake reported that it was feasible to repair the house. He added that if we repair it we will still have a non-fire proof building designed and built for 1914 conditions, Our contribution of the part of the cost of the house not covered by the $125,000 loan can be made directly to the University of Alabama, with an instruction to the University to apply it to the Phi Gamma Delta house. Contributions made in this way will be tax deductible. remodeled in 1926, but nearly 40 years out of date in To obtain this advantage we probably will have to design and construction. Such a building would be more expensive to maintain and insure than a new house. Mr. Speake recommended that we demolish the Phi Gamma Delta have leases. The other fraternities do present house and build a new one. not seem to have been prejudiced by not having a lease. give up our lease. Only Phi Delta Theta, Chi Phi and \r\nMr. Speake estimates that at the very best, thirteen months would pass from the beginning of preliminary drawings for a new house to the time when the house is ready. The present house is deteriorating rapidly. The Uni versity will allow us to tear it down now. The Uni versity may require us to fill the basement with dirt bids from several contractors and to award the contract to the best bidder. We want to keep you currently informed about what is going on, and why, and we would greatly appreciate your comments and suggestions. Respectfully submitted, Theta Chapter of Phi Gamma Delta, Inc. when the house is torn down. We could not use the By foundations of the present house, anyhow, as a new M. T. Ormond, President house must be of brick, concrete and steel, and would be heavier than the brick veneer house, which the present Joseph G. Gamble, Vice President foundations carry. Harlan Meredith, Treasurer Trustees We obtained an informal bid from a contractor who would tear down the house, give us the columns, clear Perge! away all debris, fill the basement, for $2,500 plus the material from the house. Since 1951 the following fraternities have built new houses at the University; (1) Sigma Alpha Epsilon, (2) Phi Delta Theta, (3) Kappa Alpha, (4) Pi Kappa Alpha, (5) Theta Chi, (6) Kappa Sigma, (7) Pi Kappa Phi (under construction), (8) Delta Tau Delta (under construction). In addition Delta Kappa Epsilon is com pleting a $100,000 remodeling of its house. These are more than one third of the fraternities at the University. After considering these matters carefully your Trustees unanimously feel that the present house should be de molished, and arrangements made to provide new hous ing for Theta Chapter. Theta Chapter has voted to the same effect. The board of chapter advisors, composed of Douglas Lanford, Jr., Homer Bryant, Carey F. Hollingsworth, Jr., William Lanford, Robert Cochrane, Jr., and Tom Moore, has voted to the same effect. The Graduate Chapters in Birmingham, Florence, Huntsville, Montgomery and Tuscaloosa have each voted to the same effect. The University is now preparing specifications for the demolishing of the old house. These will be ready in a few days. As soon as they are ready we plan to ask for At the present time we are gathering material for the next regular edition of the Theta Fiji. We would greatly appreciate any interesting items of graduate news that you could send us. They should be mailed to Editor, Theta Fiji, in care of Phi Gamma Delta, Box 1252, University, Alabama. Please send some graduate news at your earliest con venience, as we would like to include as much of it as possible in our next news bulletin. Recent items of graduate news that we have are: William H. Ray, Theta, '49, was promoted to Vice President of Liberty National Life Insurance Co., Birmingham, Ala. Judge Ed Livingston, Theta, '18, is unopposed in his campaign for re-election as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama. Richebourg McWilliams, Theta,'22, recently retired as head of the English Department of Birmingham- Southern College, Birmingham, Ala. The active chapter congratulates Brothers Ray, Living ston, and McWilliams for their accomplishments and outstanding representation of Phi Gamma Delta. Fraternally, Ed Livingston, Editor