Greek Village Adds Three New Housing Options for Students

During the week of Aug. 12-19, NC State students from various fraternities and sororities moved into several new housing units in the university’s Greek Village. 

Those students knew they were part of a special first group to live in the new housing, but perhaps didn’t understand just how much of a long time coming it was. Shelly Brown Dobek, NC State’s director of fraternity and sorority life, explained that the new housing was the fourth phase of a five-phase master plan, the design work for which began in 2006. 

“The concept for this phase was to create place and space for organizations that wouldn’t be able to build their own housing,” Brown Dobek said. “The first three phases opened up lots for the organizations to build new housing for themselves through a ground lease process. And this phase really focused on creating a place and space for all student organizations to have an opportunity for housing in Greek Village.”

The new housing includes three different models – Chapter Commons, which has space for three medium-sized organizations with dining, Greek Village Townhomes, designed for the smallest organizations, and an apartment building designed for upper-level students. 

When the Greek Village first envisioned the project all those years ago, neither Brown Dobek nor anyone else could have anticipated the unique challenges this phase would encounter. Bids were placed for this phase of the Greek Village project in the spring of 2020 – right at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

As most university construction projects were shuttered, the Greek Village’s project was allowed to continue, and, with most other projects put on hold, that meant additional attention from the University Architect’s office and Capital Projects. 

“I think we had a really robust design because of that level of participation,” Brown Dobek said. 

That’s not to say there weren’t challenges, however. Brown Dobek explained that the project saw a budget escalation of about a million dollars in less than 30 days. That included a fluctuation in wood prices, receiving materials such as power supplies significantly later than anticipated and starting over on carpet selections because the chosen company went out of business. 

Despite those challenges, the project moved forward. Brown Dobek said that Associate Vice Chancellor of Finance and University Treasurer Mary Peloquin-Dodd and University Controller Lori Johnson, both of whom recently retired, were instrumental in helping secure the necessary funds via an internal loan from the university. In February of 2021, the project started with the tear-down of other university-owned properties in the village, and, at long last, students moved in in August. 

“This was our third time approaching the project,” Brown Dobek said. “Every time we tried to move it forward, we would hit a road bump. And so being able to finally put this in place, I think it’s the heart of the community.”

Being able to finally put this in place, I think it’s the heart of the community.

Brown Dobek stated that the biggest difference between these new housing units and others in the Greek Village is their size and scale – instead of providing space for 40 beds, these range from 4 to 25. 

The Greek Village Townhomes feature six large townhouses that range in size from 5 to 14 beds. They also include a multipurpose room with an AV setup with capabilities for putting materials up on a screen, playing music and hosting meetings. The townhomes feature one core elevator that services all six units, as well as two communal laundry rooms, and a large back patio area for hosting cookouts or other events. 

“Having their own front door is a really important feature of folks not feeling lost within the frame of a building, but really having that front door presence acknowledges that our organizations are here from the street level,” Brown Dobek said. 

Chapter Commons features three 25-person units with shared dining in the back, and a chef service that prepares 15 meals a week for the residents of those buildings. The dining room, which has seating for about 88 people, also doubles as a large meeting room or classroom with AV capabilities, a large screen, two flat screen panels, adjustable lighting and a sound system. 

The apartments focus on upper-level students and independent living. All of the apartment units have single bedrooms and feature full-sized beds, large living rooms and kitchens with new appliances such as dishwashers, cooking ranges, microwaves and refrigerators. The apartment complex also features communal coworking spaces, a community lounge, and a shared laundry facility on the first floor. 

The new housing has also introduced a front desk area to Greek Village for the first time – the desk will be staffed Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Brown Dobek said that the fifth and final phase of the master plan for Greek Village will include eight more lot spaces for chapters to build private homes, but that phase is currently on pause. A benefit of that has been a lack of construction in the Greek Village for the first time in 15 years. 

“For the students, it’s also kind of exciting to see fences come down and green spaces reemerge and not have the Greek Village be a constant construction zone,” Brown Dobek said. “Every time a different phase opened, it was exciting, but there was also lots of beeping, lots of flying dirt and lots of active construction that’s been their whole lives as far as they’ve known, because it legitimately has been most of their lives that the village has been under construction. It’s not that we don’t want the project to continue, it will, but to press pause and enjoy for a minute is kind of a nice feeling.” 

For Brown Dobek, seeing a project that’s been 17 years in the making near completion, and students using the new housing, is a gratifying feeling. Brown Dobek said she recently had lunch with Ashlee Canty, who was a freshman at NC State 20 years ago and now works for the College of Veterinary Medicine. 

Brown Dobek said that Canty looked back on her time as a student and realized the vision for this project went all the way back to the early 2000s. 

“It’s fun to see someone like her come back and see how those students from 20 years ago have shaped opportunities and experiences for students an entire generation after them,” Brown Dobek said. “And I don’t even think they understood the gravity of what was happening at that time.”

It’s fun to see someone like her come back and see how those students from 20 years ago have shaped opportunities and experiences for students an entire generation after them.

Brown Dobek also described a recent Greek Fest the village held, and seeing brothers from Lambda Theta Phi emerge from one of the new housing units clad in their paraphernalia, “beaming from ear to ear” as this is the first time the Latinx fraternity has had on-campus housing at NC State. 

The new Greek Village housing adds an additional sense of belonging and presence for those students, and it’s been a long time coming. 

“I was pregnant with my daughter when we were designing this project, and she’s turning 16 in December,” Brown Dobek said. “So for me, this has just been an ongoing labor of love to really make this happen.”