By MELISSA WALKER

Staff Writer

Lucky for Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity, a house does not equal a home.

Because 411 S. Homer St. is no longer the home of Beta Zeta chapter of TKE fraternity.

Austin Lash, the president of TKE fraternity and a senior biology major, said he is not upset about the demise of the old fraternity house.

"Years from now we will have the memory, instead of an eyesore," Lash said.

Lash said the frat house was built in 1960 and had since endured a considerable amount of wear-and-tear.

Dr. Dee Dee Anderson, dean of Student Development, said the TKEs sold their house due to its mounting problems.

"There were several problems with the house. It had too many bedrooms and it was an aging facility," Anderson said.

Lash said talk about selling the old house began sometime last summer when several companies showed interest in buying the land. In the end the university was successful in obtaining the property.

Lash said the TKEs anticipated Tech's interest, due to Tech's purchase of surrounding land.

Linda Osborne, director of the Baptist Collegiate Ministry, located at 419 W. Arizona Ave., next to the former site of the TKE house, said the BCM will miss its neighbors.

"They were good neighbors. A tree fell down on our property once, and the guys came over with chainsaws and helped us get it up," Osborne said.

The removal of the TKE house began mid-July, with the intent of turning the land into a parking lot, Lash said.

"It's kind of sad, but I would rather it be nobody's house than belong to someone else," Lash said.

Matt Sicard, TKE pledge trainer, IFC Chief Justice and a senior biomedical engineering major, said he sees this as an opportunity to upgrade, and moving will not be too sad.

"We're still going to be TKE; we're just going to have to be TKE somewhere else," Sicard said.

He said he expects TKE to relocate to a six-bedroom house at 109 Louisiana St. for the next year or two.

TKE is waiting for word of whether or not the proposed concept of Tech Fraternity Row, a new neighborhood-type setting exclusively for fraternity houses, will become a reality, Sicard said, before they decide on plans concerning their future house.

Lash said they are in the process of raising the money necessary to make these accommodations and believes the new house is a new beginning for TKE.

"It's a good way to go out and we are looking forward to bigger things in the future," Lash said.