[B]URLINGTON — Champlain College is leasing a suspended University of Vermont fraternity’s house to use as a dorm and will move students in next month.
UVM suspended the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity for four years in March for alcohol and hazing violations. The terms require that the organization end all activities — such as chapter meetings, recruitment, initiation and social gatherings — for the length of the suspension.
Champlain College spokesman Stephen Mease said the school has signed a one-year lease for the property at 158 S. Willard St., renewable for up to four years.
“If the fraternity was looking into selling the property down the road, we’d certainly be interested,” he said.
Champlain College is renovating the house by conducting extensive cleaning, replacing wood, and installing a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.
The 13-bedroom mansion was built in 1877 for Civil War Gen. William Wells, who received a medal of honor for military service in the Battle of Gettysburg. The house features cavernous ceilings, intricate woodwork and marble fireplaces.
Champlain College has rented housing for students at the Bayberry Commons apartment complex in the east end of Burlington and will save money on a shuttle service it provided to and from the central campus along South Willard Street.
“It was a good opportunity to bring some students closer to campus,” Mease said of the decision to lease the fraternity house.
The Burlington Development Review Board voted unanimously June 14 to approve the change of use from fraternity to dorm. Both Champlain College and UVM have purchased fraternity properties in the past.
Mease said the building is expected to be ready for 29 students and one full-time adult staff member to move in Aug. 25.