When the Champaign City Council adopted an ordinance requiring Greek organizations to update their sprinkler systems in 2004, the mandate sent off more than just a flurry of quick construction projects.

As fraternities such as Alpha Kappa Lambda, 401 E. Daniel St., and Kappa Delta Rho, 1110 S. Second St., set to reopen their houses in the fall, members and alumni continue to look forward to having homes that bring a modern flair to Greek traditions.

“Our house over the years just got into disrepair,” said Chris Disher, Alpha Kappa Lambda alumnus and chairman of its renovations. “Once we found out how much that was going to cost, we needed to do something bigger.”

Disher, who graduated in 1977, said dozens of other alumni from the fraternity’s Gamma chapter had flown in from around the country to explore ideas for the house when renovation plans began several years ago. “Our guys wanted to restore the house to what they remember,” he said.

“They wanted to make sure the house was going to carry on the ideals of the fraternity such as leadership, scholarship, self-support and loyalty,” Disher added. “We wanted to keep the tradition of the house.”

Renovations include the addition of a classroom on the first floor, a decision made to strengthen the academics and networking of the fraternity. The room will be set up with large televisions and Internet that can be used for webcasts and presentations, Disher said.

“We’re trying to connect students to alumni,” he added. “We’re bringing back alumni to come and speak and help the guys and talk about their careers.”

The house also features an outdoor basketball court and hardwood flooring. To work toward better sustainability, fluorescent lighting was installed to save energy.

To accommodate sizeable gatherings, the basement, painted in the chapter’s purple and gold colors, includes a large media room complete with two flat-screen televisions and a surround sound system.

“One of the trends of fraternities (today) is that they have much larger memberships,” Disher said. “We needed a space for groups like that to gather and have socials and so forth.”

While alumni funded and took charge of the reconstruction project, current members also gave input on the renovations of their future home.

“It’s been an ongoing dialogue,” said Matt Castro, sophomore in Business and president of Alpha Kappa Lambda. “They came to us at every injunction with various ideas and floor plans for suite-style living.”

At Kappa Delta Rho’s Eta chapter, reconstruction efforts centered on preserving the historical significance of the house, said Bill Paris, one of the alumni working on the project. The house is considered architecturally significant and is listed on the National Historic Register.

“From the outset our desire was to explore preserving the historic nature of the house, but still manage to accommodate the needs of the modern student,” Paris said.

Paris said the plans for Kappa Delta Rho included reconfiguring the space and tearing out walls.

“The existing structure was built in 1927 and had a good amount of space that was originally useful but today was basically unused,” Paris said.

To better serve the needs of students, the building was rewired to provide significantly greater electrical service, Paris said. This includes more Internet accessibility, with both hard-wired and wireless service being provided throughout the house.

Scott Runyon, junior in AHS and president of Kappa Delta Rho, said he is glad the house will still maintain a more traditional fraternity style.

“A lot of houses are tearing down and building new ones,” Runyon said. “You’re losing a lot of looks with traditional houses.”

Runyon said he noticed some fraternities have trended toward building apartment-style houses. “I like the way our house looks,” he added.

With a renovated house updated with air conditioning and ADA accessibility, Runyon said he and his brothers are looking forward to recruitment in the fall.

“When you recruit better, you get better leaders. You can find more ambitious leaders to start different programs and do things better,” Runyon said.

“I think all these house renovations are a step in the future towards a more inviting fraternity system,” Castro added.