Members of the heavyweight crew team will be moving into the house at 13 Lake Pl., which had previously been owned by Yale’s newest fraternity, Chi Psi.
Chi Psi sold its house in November after neighbors complained of excessive noise and trash coming from the nearby houses of fraternities Delta Kappa Epsilon and Alpha Delta Phi. The fraternity had wanted to turn the house — which is divided into three, three-bedroom apartments — into a single family 14-bedroom house, and they needed the zoning board’s permission to do so. But residents who live on the street wrote letters to the zoning board complaining about DKE’s and ADPhi’s derogatory attitudes about women, high noise levels and uncleanliness. Following the complaints, Baker Duncan ’48 , a member of Chi Psi who had bought the house for the fraternity, decided to sell the property to Carol Horsford, a real estate broker. Horsford decided last week to rent it out for one year to nine members of the men’s heavyweight crew team.
“I’ve been in real estate for a long time, and I know the right questions to ask. And we asked [the heavyweight crew team] a lot about their priorities, and it was clearly academic, then their sport, then their social life,” Horsford said. “So, I didn’t really feel like the house was going to be a big party house because they are sober for a lot of the academic year.”
Horsford, who has rented out homes on Lake Place to other Yale athletic teams, added that housing on Lake Place for undergraduate athletes is competitive because of the street’s proximity to Payne Whitney Gym. Horsford said she screens applicants, sometimes by talking to their parents, in order to find tenants whom she believes will respect the property.
After Duncan sold the house to Horsford, he reached out to a fraternity management organization and Horsford to help Chi Psi find another house. The group currently has one picked out, and they are waiting for a contract to fall in place, said Horsford.
Chi Psi President Taylor Rogers ’17 said he could not provide any additional information on the location of the house but that the contract should be finalized soon.
Unlike DKE and ADPhi, which routinely host large social events throughout the year, the heavyweight crew team only hosts events during the fall semester because they are not allowed to consume alcohol during their spring competitive season, said Sam Helms ’18, a member of the team. He added that only some of the team’s events, such as Oktoberfest, are open to all Yale students, while most are mixers with another team or sorority.
DKE’s house will be undergoing renovations, Horsford said, which may also reduce the noise level on Lake Place. She said members of the fraternity called her on Friday to find off-campus apartments for next year.
“We showed seven guys from DKE other options, so we’ll see what they want to do,” Horsford said.
The neighbors have not voiced complaints to Horsford about an undergraduate sports team moving into house, Horsford said. Instead, the neighbors are happy that the house is being renovated, because it has not been occupied since 2003, Horsford added.
Chi Psi has active chapters at 32 universities.