The old Sigma Chi house, located at 4600 Norwich Road.
Only one of the four white columns remains that gave the fraternity house on Norwich Road its original colonial stature. Its windows are boarded up with splintered wood, and its yard is overgrown.
The abandoned Sigma Chi house at 4600 Norwich Road — which was built in the 1940s and has been vacant since 2002, when the fraternity’s initial charter was revoked — is part of the College Park Historic District, despite its dilapidated state.
It’s this designation that could keep the house from being demolished, as the university wishes.
Irene Redmiles, this university’s assistant vice president for real estate, filed a Historic Area Work Permit application in October with the Prince George’s County Historic Preservation Commission requesting permission to raze the house.
At its Dec. 9 work session, the College Park City Council unanimously expressed support for the bid. On Dec. 16, the Historic Preservation Commission will hold a hearing to decide the site’s future.
“This property has been an eyesore for some time and a danger for many reasons,” District 3 Councilman Robert Day said. “Hopefully our support will help move this along.”
Sigma Chi was reinstated on the campus in 2009 and now occupies a university-owned house on Fraternity Row.
Barry DesRoches, president of Sigma Chi’s Gamma Chi Chapter, Inc., owns the old property. The University of Maryland College Park Foundation has an agreement with DesRoches to purchase the land on the grounds that he demolishes the structure.
“The owner is ready to sell, eager to sell, I would say,” Redmiles said. “It’s an opportunity for [the university] because we surround the property on three sides, so it’s a logical acquisition for us.”
Philip R. Lamb & Co., Inc. appraised the site at about $1.5 million, but Carlo Colella, the university administration and finance vice president, said the foundation plans to pay less than the appraised value. The foundation and DesRoches have until July 1 to finalize the contract, Redmiles said.
This is not the first time DesRoches has tried to secure a permit to tear down the house. He made a similar appeal in 2007, which the HPC denied.
“The previous redevelopment plans were not well-received by the city,” Colella said. “It was very easy at that point for the HPC to deny it.”
District 3 Councilwoman Stephanie Stullich said the council opposed the previous bid for a demolition permit because it still held onto the hope that the building would be restored.
Now, after 14 years of the structure’s vacancy and continued deterioration, she said she’s ready to support university acquisition.
“Between the passage of time and the university becoming involved, for me, that makes the difference,” she said. “Sometimes you settle for something less than what you’d like to see, but we’re just trying to get the best outcome for the community.”
Even with City Council support, Colella said, there are some obstacles that might prevent the HPC from granting the permit.
“Its uncommon for demolition to be allowed by the HPC without subsequent projects being discussed,” he said. “I just wanted to say, at this point, the university doesn’t have a development plan. We do have ideas that would be compatible with the surrounding community, but we don’t have those ready at this time.”
Colella said one idea is using the approximately 35,000 square feet of space for housing tailored to faculty, staff and graduate students.
“One of the things that’s part of the university’s shared vision with the city is that we increase the number of university faculty and staff living in College Park,” he said. “If we were able to bring about a project like town homes or a loft, that might help.”
The Old Town College Park Local Advisory Committee also expressed support for the Sigma Chi house demolition at its Dec. 8 meeting, under the condition that the structure the foundation replaces it with abides by certain standards.
“Any new construction must be compatible with the character of the surrounding historic district with respect to massing, scale, craftsmanship, design, materials and site planning and must be reviewed by the LAC and Old Town Civic Association,” the motion states.
Stullich said she has faith that will be the case.
“Everyone would like to see the property look good,” she said. “We have a level of trust that, with the university in the driver’s seat, they will live up to their promises to design it in a way that will be an asset to the neighborhood.”
