The Phi Gamma Delta fraternity has a new home on 1200 S. College Ave. that is to be dedicated at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. This is the third house built by the fraternity since the early 1920s.

Phi Gamma Delta has owned the 1200 S. College lot since 1954 when then-members of the house gave up their social funds for two years and bought it for $10,000, said Turner Hardwick, communications senior and Phi Gamma Delta president.

Planning for the new house started in 2007, with fundraising led by OU’s Phi Gamma Delta Alumni Association starting in early 2008. Construction soon began at the end of May 2009 and took approximately 14 months to complete.

“With fundraising, planning and construction we worked on the house for about two and a half years,” said Lee Allen Smith, Phi Gamma Delta alumni and member of the fundraising foundation.

With construction completed, members were able to move in at 4 p.m. Aug. 17 in time for the fall semester, Hardwick said.

The new Phi Gamma Delta house is 29,000 square feet. It has 36 bedrooms for members, three living rooms, three study halls, three laundry rooms, one dining hall and one kitchen. The senior hall, officer wing and some bedrooms are one-person bedrooms, compared to others which are two person bedrooms. The house can hold up to 72 members.

Cost of the house is approximately $6 million, said Smith.

Amenities at the house include Internet, a state-of-the art media room, automated doors and a security system, Hardwick said. The house is also equipped with games including two billiards tables and two pingpong tables in different areas of the house, said Donald Harrell, energy management junior and Phi Gamma Delta treasurer.

“I feel the new house certainly gives a good image to Greek life at the University of Oklahoma … it shows that the Greek life at OU is thriving now more than it ever has,” Harrell said.

Phi Gamma Delta is a partner with the University of Oklahoma and this facility gives university students a nice place to live, said Smith.

“This gives the students a place to study and have a good time also,” Smith said.

Smith added that the current fraternity members will hopefully make good grades, have excellent jobs after school and in 50 years be the alumni donating money and time to build a new Phi Gamma Delta house.