American Campus Communities is putting the final touches on the Greek Leadership Village at Arizona State University's Tempe campus.
Total development costs for the 957-bed project stand at $69.6 million, said Marc Gilbert, vice president of marketing and public-private partnerships for Austin-based American Campus Communities.
A grand opening for the new housing on the east side of ASU's campus along Rural Road is planned for September, Gilbert said. The Greek Village Community Center features meeting spaces, council and staff offices and retail space. Fraternity and sorority members worked in partnership with the university to develop the 27-house community.
This is the seventh project ACC has built for ASU, Gilbert said. ACC will operate more than 7,700 beds of student housing at ASU when the new Greek project opens, he said.
Under the agreement, ACC will provide maintenance for the facilities while ASU will handle Greek life and activities for the 27 Greek organizations on campus.
The 306,904-square-foot project sits on 6 acres, built with an inner courtyard for activities.
"Nationally, I think fraternity life is on the decline a little bit, for a variety of reasons," Gilbert said. "This was a vision by ASU to try and maintain the vibrancy of the Greek life on the ASU campus."
When asked if this was a way for ASU to more closely control activities of the Greek organizations, Meenah Rincon, media relations officer for ASU, said no.
"This was a student-driven initiative to address the need and desire of many fraternities and sororities to have an on-campus housing experience," she said. "It is not mandatory to live at Greek Leadership Village — chapters were invited to apply if they'd like to live there."
