The University’s chapter of Kappa Sigma fraternity announced it will close its on-campus house Aug. 1 to begin $7 million renovations, including demolition of the existing house and the structure of a new one, and the chapter will move into the vacated former Acacia house for the next two years.
The fraternity began fundraising for house renovations in early February after an engineering report by Southeast Engineers LLC found the building in violation of building codes and electrical and HVAC deficiencies.
LSU Kappa Sigma President Aaron Rogers said the renovations were in the works prior to the engineering report.
“It did not put the plan into action as much as it just catalyzed it,” Rogers said. “Everyone understood that the house was not in great shape, but it really showed from a professional point of view the dire status of our house. It’s really just falling down around us every day. We showed all of the alumni that it wasn’t the chapter complaining about little things that have gone on, but it was truly something that needed to be done if we were going to remain competitive on campus.”
According to a news release, demolition cannot begin until the fraternity raises the full $7 million.
Mike Busada, co-chairman for the Kappa Sigma house steering commission, said the fraternity has raised $4.4 million at last count and should reach its target before the end of the year by continuing its fundraising efforts.
“We’ve gone to different cities throughout the state and have gone to Texas where we have a lot of alumni,” Busada said. “We have had informational receptions and fundraising events to explain the project to all our alumni outside of Baton Rouge and to answer questions. They’ve been very successful. We’ve had one in New Orleans, Houston, Dallas, Shreveport, Lafayette, and we will have one in Baton Rouge on Aug. 27.”
The new house plans include three floors with nearly 23,000 square feet and the ability to house 53 people. Rogers said both undergraduate fraternity
members and alumni members have participated in the planning process for the new house.
“We think that it will be the premier fraternity house on campus,” Busada said. “We did a lot of research and looked at a lot of fraternity houses around the country and a lot of our competitor schools in the SEC as well. We really took the best practices from everything that we saw.”
Rogers said the experience of working on the new house has motivated him in working toward creating a lasting legacy.
“We’re planning on building a house that lasts a century,” he said.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to clarify that the renovations will include demolition of the existing Kappa Sigma house and the structure of a new one.

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Javier Fernández

07/14/2015 Kappa Sigma