The Delta Delta Delta Sorority?s new home still smells new inside.
The house was finished this month and is now home to 72 Tri-Delta sisters in suite-style rooms. As girls moved in this week, they were welcomed with an arch of gold and blue balloons and the scent of fresh paint.
The new house, located at 1134 E Panhellenic Drive, stands out with its huge white columns and sheer size. The house is about 25,000 square feet, said Christine Bainer, Tri-Delta president.
But in the middle of recruitment week, those details are lost in the excitement.
"That's not really what we're trying to focus on," said Bainer, who is required to live in the sorority house as president. "We're just happy to be back on Sorority Row after being gone for two years."
Construction on the house began in May 2006, but the sorority moved out of the house about a year earlier.
The UF Tri-Delta was the first branch of the sorority to receive a new house from its executive office. The house was provided in response to growing membership and alumni support.
The sorority spent the last two years living at the Georgia Seagle Hall on West University Avenue while it waited for its permanent home to be finished.
The new house requires fingerprint entry. The sorority keeps records of members? fingerprints in a control room inside the house. Each room houses two sorority sisters, and each girl has her own study room.
The three-story house contains a parlor, media room and washers and dryers on each floor, and there is also a library with a piano.
"This is going to be a great facility for girls now and for years to come," Bainer said.
The sorority received funding for the house through alumni support and donations, she said. She did not disclose the cost of the sorority house. Bainer estimates the number of girls in the Tri-Delta sorority will be close to 200 after fall recruitment.
