Dear Brothers,
In January we communicated that the Ohio Zeta chapter was suspended from operation until Fall 2024. Since that time the House has been systematically shut down with all unnecessary expenses removed and operations at barebones levels. Our only source of income without substantial House renovation is rental of parking spaces and contributions from alumni. With minimal operating cost (e.g. property taxes, vacancy level property insurance, interest only Palmer payments, minimal utilities and House maintenance) and maximum parking revenue, we will have annual losses of $15K to $20K in order to keep the property.
Obviously, this is not a sustainable situation. There seems to be two alternatives, (1) alumni contributions to make up the shortfall, or (2) transfer the property along with existing debt obligations to the General Headquarters.
The existing debt obligations are approximately $100K to Palmer and $82K to Fidelity Scholarship Fund. If we transfer the property to the GHQ they will pay ongoing operating expenses and hold the property for use once Ohio Zeta can return to Chapter operations. A number of details would need to be resolved, but essentially the GHQ would retain ownership of the property, lease it back to Ohio Zeta when operations resume and provide the House Corporation first right of refusal if a sale of the property becomes necessary.
All of the above is just to keep the property for future Ohio Zeta use. Before reopening the House in 2024 substantial renovation or a full rebuild is necessary. Current City of Columbus rooming house codes, university requirements for sophomore live-in eligibility and simply to compete with other fraternities and newer rental units, full renovation or rebuild is needed to be viable going forward. Such costs would likely be $3M to $4M. Discussion for raising that sort of money is for another day.
For now, we need your help and input on what we should do to keep the property. Please respond to the questions below by emailing our our alumni communications partner, Affinity Connection, at [email protected]. We need to make decisions before year-end. Thanks for your help.
- Do you think we should transfer the House to the GHQ? (yes or no)
- Are you willing to become actively engaged in helping to guide the future of the House and Ohio Zeta? (yes or no)
- Can you contribute financially in one of the following categories?
- $100 to $500
- $500 to $1000
- $1000 to $5000
- $5000 to $10,000
- Over $10,000
- Other _________