Penn State Alpha Sig And Kappa Sig Signed Lease For Same House, Are Lawyered Up

Jared Borislow10 years ago

It’s pretty weird being a grown-up and living in an actual house these days instead of a fraternity house. Even though all five residents of my house are former fraternity members, it’s just not the same. Sure, we still have a plethora of beer bottles laying around, a house dog, many unopened boxes of condoms, and our bedside tables are all stocked to the brim with lotion (we all have really dry hands, I swear). But it’s not the real thing. It lacks the pizzazz, the mystery. There’s nothing like staring at a pull-out couch in your fraternity house and realizing that there is a 50 percent chance you’ll find a sorority girl there whom a TFTC brother forgot was in bed with him when he converted the bed back into its original couch form the next morning. Good times, man.

There is an ongoing dispute in State College over the future of the Penn State Alpha Sigma Phi house at 328 Fairmount Ave. that has been occupied by the fraternity for over 70 years. Alpha Sig brothers paid their rent for the upcoming school year back in 2014, but in June, the majority owner of the property, Mark Maloney, realized he’d had it with hosting Alpha Sig. He amended the lease to change Alpha Sig’s house to 420 E. Prospect Ave., the former house of the now defunct Penn State Kappa Delta Rho chapter .

From Centre Daily Times

(Maloney) claimed in court that the Alpha Sigma Phi brothers have had a history of violations that rack up points in the borough’s nuisance property ordinance, making it possible for the property to lose its licensure to host college students, meaning a possible loss to his company of up to $250,000 for a one-year suspension.

He also brought in large color pictures of the damages he said the fraternity had done to the property. Broken windows, splintered doors and graffiti were on vivid display. Add in fire hazards and a recent drug arrest by a fraternity member who was subsequently dismissed and evicted, and Maloney painted a picture of a bad apple fraternity that was in constant trouble and posing a risk to his business investment.

Being a risk to your landlord’s business investment. It’s a TFM.

Now that he contractually moved the Alpha Sigs to a property best known for being the backdrop of photos of naked, passed out chicks, he planned to rent the Fairmont Ave. house to another Penn State fraternity, Kappa Sigma. Because that’s not going to cause any problems.

Maloney defended his position by saying that the house on Prospect was actually nicer. He highlighted that the new house includes a surveillance system that the Alpha Sigs could use to catch the people who keep vandalizing their house. This is clearly a hilarious shot at the chapter because the Alpha Sigs claim their house was in such disrepair because they were frequently vandalized by other fraternities, not because their chapter is full of self-destructive frat monsters. Maloney has called their bluff and isn’t here to fuck around.

The only problem, well, besides all the other problems, is that the house on Prospect Ave. is not available until November 14th. This is because it’s been labeled a “nuisance property” because of the antics of the now-defunct KDR chapter. Classic.

In the end, a judge decided in favor of Alpha Sigma Phi, because their leases were signed earlier. The brothers have to post a bond of $10,000, though, to insure that they’re going to be good little residents and won’t continue to destroy Maloney’s cash cow. Dues are gonna be fun for Alpha Sig this semester..

[via Centre Daily Times]

Image via greeks.psu.edu