heinzj@lopers.unk.edu

The move-in day for the new sorority housing was pushed back to January 2024. Completion was originally set for June 2023, but a four-month delay is now anticipated.

The postponement is effected by a number of problems.

“The construction industry is a mess,” said Todd Gottula, senior director of communications and marketing at UNK. “This project’s kind of a victim of that. So supply chain issues, a lack of workforce, all those things continue to create challenges for contractors and all the subcontractors who are building and doing this work involved with the project.”

Workers from the sorority housing project were shifted to Martin Hall’s renovation so it would be finished on time.

Martin Hall’s finish date could not be pushed back like it was with the sorority housing. University Residence North and South, the fraternities’ old housing, were used to relocate offices and departments.

Renovations continued while fraternities moved.

“I think the fraternity completion and how it went helped inform this decision because the people making decisions did not want to repeat that,” said Karlee Nuttelman, assistant director of fraternity and sorority life. “Since there’s no one moving in or utilizing that space behind the sororities, there was a much more flexible timeline that could happen.”

Sorority housing’s new anticipated completion date is October 2023, with the move-in set for January 2024. November and December will be used to finish up any short delays and move in equipment and furniture.

“There’s not a lot of leeway on the deadline now that it’s gotten extended again. For this first time it needs to be done and we’re pretty confident it will be,” Gottula said.

The new building will serve four sororities and three multicultural chapters. 

“It honestly wasn’t surprising,” said Mackenzie Welsh, Panhellenic president. “We can see it every day and we know that it probably wasn’t going to get there. There was a little bit of disappointment, but it was mostly just excitement that we have a final date.” 

Greg Christen, Project Manager of Facilities and Planning at UNK, was unable to comment on the adjusted timeline.