Planned Renovations

February 2024

University of North Dakota Beta Brothers,

A letter that was recently sent to you via e-mail generated numerous calls with questions as to what are the planned renovations for our house.  I am hopeful this second letter will bring some clarity. First let me remind you of what has already been completed. We have installed new windows, new carpet, and new furniture on the main floor, replaced the french doors leading to the outside, tables and chairs for the dining room, and upgraded the fire control system. That covers most of the highly visual portions of the property but there is so much more that needs to be done. Our house needs a facelift to address the nearly 100 years of wear and tear.

Let us start on the interior. There are 32 rooms that need to be renovated with paint, new flooring, a closet organizer, desk, bed frame and mattress. At approximately $3500/room that alone is $112,000. The kitchen needs updating including a new commercial dishwasher which is currently nonfunctional.  The dining room does need some refurbishing and the heating does not work well in certain rooms. The glycol needs to be replaced in the heating system. The bathrooms need a makeover as some of the toilets and urinals are inoperable. There are repairs that need to be done to the drywall and numerous doors need to be repaired.

Let’s move outside. The bowing of a basement wall under porch on the south side needs attention even though it is not currently affecting the integrity of the foundation. This is primarily due to water seepage and the lack of adequate downspouts drainage, so we need to repair and replace the gutter and downspouts. Repair the following, concrete window wells, concrete on front porch base. front sidewalk and fire pit with a colored brick stamp design, back concrete in front of cars. Hinged covers and grates for egress basement windows, new flagpole and landscaping.

In which order is the work going to be done? That is not known until we see the level of your giving to the renovations.  As you can see some of this is urgent so, please consider a gift for the house very soon. Below you will find the names and contact information for the members of the Housing Corporation. If you have questions, please direct them to us we will be happy to answer them as best we can. As a reminder, contributions and gifts to Gamma Kappa Housing Building Fund for unrestricted purposes are not deductible or charitable contributions.

Doug Lewis, President

Gamma Kappa Housing Corp.

A list of renovations in no particular order are:

32 rooms

Kitchen

Dining Room

Replace Glycol in Heating System

Bathroom repairs

Wall and door repairs

Bowing basement wall

Gutters and downspouts

Repair concrete window wells

Repair concrete on front porch base

Repair front sidewalk and fire pit

Repair concrete in front of cars

Hinged covers and grates for egress basement windows

New flag pole

Landscaping