November 09, 2009 — Coral Gables — Meetings and organized events have always provided a platform for University of Miami student Ryan Zangeneh to bond with his fellow Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity brothers. But in the past two and a half months, nothing has helped that bonding process more than a new one-story house that now sits on Liguria Avenue.

The structure, the first fraternity house built on UM’s Coral Gables campus in 40 years, “has not only given us a place to gather, we have grown so much closer in the short time we’ve been living together,” said Zangeneh, who lives in the dwelling with 16 other SAE members.

Last Sunday, he was one of several people who gathered on campus to dedicate the house, which opened at the beginning of the 2009 fall semester after a planning and construction phase during which the original architect died.

“There were a lot of challenges, and it took a lot of hard work to get it built. Now, it’s so exciting to finally have it open,” said Michael Crow, a sophomore business major from Dallas, Texas, standing with three other SAE members during the ceremony.

Top University administrators, alumni, longtime SAE members and several volunteers whose efforts helped make the house possible attended the event.

“It has taken everyone several years and a tremendous amount of dedication and time to arrive at this moment,” Vice President of Student Affairs Pat Whitely said. “The University is proud of SAE for setting an excellent standard of brotherhood.”

Located near the University Village student apartments, the house is built on land purchased by UM from Howell L. Watkins II, the Miami real estate developer credited with spearheading efforts to make the project possible.

When the planning phase for the house got under way, Howell, an SAE member himself, said he and others discovered “there was no building code for such a project. We had to get someone to step forward to tell us what kinds of regulations we needed to adhere to. It was a difficult task, but we made it happen,” he explained.

During the process, the fraternity had to hire a new architect after the original one died. But once the concrete began to pour, “we couldn’t believe it was actually happening,” said SAE member Steve Balch, who graduated from UM last May with a marketing and finance degree. He returned to the UM campus on Sunday just for the dedication, admiring along with dozens of other guests the new house that now serves as the center of operations for SAE.

The building, just off Red Road, is quite easy to spot. The fraternity’s symbol, a 50-year-old statue of a white lion that UM’s Department of Art and Art History helped refurbish, stands out front.

Before its members moved in, SAE conducted business at a suite in UM’s Panhellenic Building. Now its members have a permanent home from which to accomplish important volunteer work.

Last year, the chapter raised more than $12,000 for the Children’s Miracle Network, and during the 2008 American Cancer Society Relay for Life, it came through with $8,000.

Richard Walker, assistant vice president for student affairs and an SAE member who pledged at Middle Tennessee State University, called members of the UM chapter “leaders within the fraternity community. As a member of the fraternity and administrator at the University, it is very rewarding to have been involved with the growth and development of the students as well as with the alumni in working through the trials and tribulations of getting the house built.”