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SAE breaks ground on Greek Row

Sigma Alpha Epsilon broke ground on a new fraternity house on Peachtree Avenue Nov. 4, putting the fraternity on Greek Row.
The new location for the house was chosen because of a deal with Cookeville Regional Medical Center. The lot where the current SAE house sits on Seventh Street was traded for the new lot on Peachtree Avenue that CRMC previously owned.
“When we saw the location of the lot that the hospital wanted to do a signing trade with us for it was a done deal,” Harrison Burdge, SAE treasurer, said. “We called our nationals and told them we were moving, and they helped us get it going. We raised $230,000 in two weeks, and that was the start of our money. Right now the plan is to start building in February and to be done by the beginning of October.”
The future house, which has been designed to mimic the other buildings at Tech, will have living space for 14 members as well as a full kitchen, chapter room and study room. Currently the house is expected to be valued at $600,000 and will be about 5,200 square feet plus parking space.
Burdge said the money comes strictly from alumni donations. The fraternity has guidelines to follow about how to get the money, but it is up to the fraternity to actually do it.
For at least five years, the Tennessee Delta chapter has been donating $1,200 a month to the alumni association to start the building process.
“We are having great alumni involvement, even all the way from our founding members,” Noble Halliburton, current SAE president, said. “We are already 70 percent towards our fundraising goals, and we hope to get the other 30 percent soon.”