On January 7, 2021 the City of Charlottesville finally issued our building permit for the construction of the New Alpha Omicron of Chi Psi Lodge at the University of Virginia, located at the corner of Madison Lane and Chancellor Street. Demolition of the old building was completed at the end of March. Construction of the New Lodge will begin immediately thereafter. The pictures do not do justice to the extent of how much of the old building has been removed to make way for the New Lodge, which will consist of 4,500 sq. ft. over three levels. We anticipate the New Lodge will be finished and occupied by this fall. Also, our address has been changed from 167 Chancellor Street to 170 Madison Lane.
The Building Committee selected Design Develop, LLC as our architect and supervising manager for the project. Joe Bailey, former #1 of the Corporation, was instrumental in introducing us to Design Develop and getting this construction project started. After interviewing three potential builders, we chose R. E. Lee and Son, Inc. as our contractor. Both Design Develop and R. E. Lee have been doing excellent work.
The unsung hero who got us where we are today has been Alan Franklin, O’95. Alan is a civil engineer living and working in Charlottesville who designed our site plan and helped us navigate numerous obstacles to obtain its approval and the building permit from the City of Charlottesville.
A round of clicks for Alan. We also wish to thank the members of the Building Committee; Paul Wright O’82, Jim Irving O’76, Chip Cunningham O’96, and Alan Franklin, O’95 for all the time and effort that they have put into making the New Lodge a reality. In addition, the actives have played an integral part of this project, especially Andrew Williams, O’21, the past #1. Finally, we could not have done anything without the loyal financial support of all the contributors to the Chi Psi Lodge Renovation Fund.
