Feasibility study for the adaptive reuse of the former Sigma Chi house

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2014

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Abstract

This feasibility study evaluates the economic viability for adaptive reuse of the former Sigma Chi fraternity house located at 4600 Norwich Road in College Park, Maryland. The house has been vacant since 2001 and designation of the structure as a contributing resource in the Old Town College Park historic district in 2006 halted the owner’s plans to demolish the abandoned house and construct a new building on the lot. Competing values between the owner and the community have resulted in an impasse where the house has continued to sit boarded up and unused. To date the owner has yet to consider the feasibility of rehabilitating the structure with the use of available historic tax credits. This report will demonstrate that adaptively reusing the Sigma Chi house is economically feasible if historic tax credits are used and that any continued inaction allowing the house to deteriorate further should be avoided.

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Masters final project submitted to the Faculty of the Historic Preservation Program, School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Historic Preservation. HISP 710/711 final project, 2014.

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