

NEWARK — For decades, fraternity members at the New Jersey Institute of Technology have lived and partied in a collection of motley and aging houses along one of Newark's main thoroughfares.

Today, frat row got a modern makeover.

NJIT unveiled its $80 million Warren Street Village project, a three-acre development on the edge of campus that includes a row of sleek brick townhouses to serve as new homes for up to 10 of the school’s fraternities and sororities.

The three-story Greek houses are located across a lawn from a new six-story dormitory for honors students that also includes computer labs, lounges, offices, restaurants and more.

"You would be hard pressed to find another university with a similar set-up," said Helena Halasz, a junior biomedical engineering student who moved into the new Delta Phi Epsilon sorority house on the row.

The new village, which will house nearly 600 Dorman Honors College students and fraternity and sorority members side by side, is not as odd as it sounds, said Halasz, who is also an honors student.

"At first this may seem curious, an unusual grouping," Halasz said. "But if you really think about it ... these two communities on my right and on my left represent the most studious and most active members of the NJIT community — and they are finally united."

NJIT officials spent years debating the Warren Street project idea, which got mixed reviews from current and former members of NJIT’s fraternities and sororities who were unsure if they wanted to move Greek housing on campus.

"Greek life is about to change," said James Krucher, president of the Greek Housing Council. Krucher, a 1973 NJIT graduate, said the new Greek row was the result of a decade of difficult meetings and compromises.

"Ten years of frustration. Ten years of Greeks commenting on everything that happened. Ten years of mistrust. Ten years of building this bond that ultimately became the Greek village," said Krucher, an alumnus of the campus chapter of Pi Kappa Phi.

The ribbon cutting included tours of the 214,000 square feet of new buildings and a display of large photos showing how the block was transformed from a parking lot into a new community in 18 months.

The complex — located between Colden Street, Warren Street and Raymond Boulevard — was financed by bonds NJIT plans to repay over 30 years using rental income. So far, two of the fraternities have purchased the new houses on the row, while others are renting.

NJIT currently has 18 fraternities and sororities. About 10 of the fraternities have houses on or near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Others, including the sororities, did not own their own houses, university officials said.

The new honors and Greek housing increases the student residences on NJIT’s campus by 35 percent, to 2,200 beds, campus officials said. It should also relieve some of the overcrowding at the 10,000-student university, which has tripled up students in rooms and rented off-campus housing to meet demand in recent years.

Attractive student facilities will also attract better students, said Joel Bloom, NJIT’s president.

"Great universities have to compete," Bloom said.

The opening of the Warren Street Village is designed to be the first step of a larger project to redevelop areas adjacent to campus, including Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, the home of many of NJIT’s aging fraternity houses.

The long-term vision for the boulevard includes a parking garage at Orange Street, a spot for a potential hotel and conference center at Central Avenue and the redevelopment of the old Saint Michael’s Medical Center building.

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