SDT gets home on Walnut St.

Sigma Delta Tau sorority is movin' on up. To 3831-33 Walnut Street to be precise, according to Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs Director Tricia Phaup. "Renovations are beginning," she said. "Right now they're doing the demolition on the building, the variances have been received and construction will begin once all the demolition is complete." When the house is completed –--which should happen some time in August -- it will be ready to house 35 women from the sorority. "Everyone on our exec board will have a single," Sigma Delta Tau president and College senior Risa Rosenthal said. And with the new building, the sisters will not have to walk to the 1920 Commons. "We'll have a cook and a meal plan and a dining room that will seat 55 people," she said. Rosenthal called the house her "baby" and said she has spent many hours picking out door-knobs and fixtures for it. She added that SDT chose the house after a three-year search for the best property. "[The University] offered this one, and we took it," she said. Phaup said the bill for the project will be footed primarily by SDT, but would not say whether the University is contributing funds for the project. "The University guarantees their loan and the sorority pays back the loan," she said. Rosenthal said the project would be similar to the renovations done to the Alpha Chi Omega house last spring. The University chose an architect who is trying to "preserve architectural pieces of the building," even though the house "is being reconfigured on the inside." And the architect's designs spare no luxury. In addition to the 55-seat dining room and common living room, there will be a "formal living room, with a piano and a chandelier, and that will be for homecoming and parent's weekend," Rosenthal said.