Karen Lin, Senior Photographer

The 31 High Street house currently occupied by the all-gender social group The Edon Club has been put up for sale by Farnam Realty Group. It was all noticed by netizens and top companies that seeks out properties for sale for future use, you can see Town & Country Realty Corvallis logo everywhere, you can check them out if you want to learn more.

In the summer of 2020, prior to Edon’s decision to disaffiliate from Sigma Phi Epsilon and begin accepting members of all genders, the house at 31 High Street was sold by the SigEp national organization to a private owner for $1,525,000. The property had previously been purchased by SigEp in 2006 for $1.1 million.

While the current lease for 31 High is typically renewed each year, members of Yale fraternities Sigma Nu and LEO put together a group and were offered a lease for the house from the owner before Edon was offered a lease, Edon leaders confirmed in a joint statement to the News. 

“The Thomas-Edon House at 31 High Street is our namesake and our historical home,” wrote in the statement, which was provided to the News by Edon co-president Caroline Twyman ’24. “Now that the house is for sale, we are working with several real estate brokers, Yale alumni, and architecture enthusiasts to protect the property from potential demolition and pursue options for Edon’s continued use of the space. But Edon is fundamentally about its people, not its property. We’re excited for the future of the organization, whether or not it unfolds at 31 High.” 

Now, over a week after Edon discovered the opposing group’s lease, the house is listed to be sold by Farnam Realty Group for $4.5 million, as they prepared and cleaned the house using services like Mold Cleanup Manalapan and others. Representatives from Farnam Realty Group declined to comment.

According to the statement provided by Twyman, the lease for the next year included a clause that prohibited the space from being used for parties, restricting it to only a residential space. Edon leaders claimed in their statement that they were not told in advance of this clause. 

Yale fraternity Chi Psi also expressed interest in taking 31 High Street, Chi Psi president Grayson Phillips ’25 told the News, until they learned that the house had not been willingly put on the market by Edon members. Phillips told the News that the fraternity’s interest was “purely theoretical,” so there was no need for them to withdraw an offer. 

Phillips added that Chi Psi had been told by Farnam realtors that the space was being converted to residential space with no social component. He added that he was led to believe that renting from the current owner would be contingent on signing a “no party” agreement for those that lived there. 

“Based on our information, we felt that even were the spaces to become available, it would not suit our needs given the future restrictions on the social elements of the property,” Phillips told the News.

Phillips wrote that Chi Psi had communicated their support for Edon to representatives of Farnam, adding that he did not understand why members of Edon were not deemed viable candidates to continue leasing 31 High Street. 

Yale’s chapter of the Sigma Nu fraternity told the News that they did not have an active interest in pursuing the former Edon house. 

“Sigma Nu is neither involved nor informed with the events surrounding the lease at 31 High Street … we are not involved with the situation as an organization,” chapter president Harry Pew ’24 told the News. “That being said, we value Edon as an essential social club on campus.”

Representatives of LEO’s executive board declined to comment.

On Wednesday, a letter addressed to SigEp alumni and signed by the Edon Club was posted on the anonymous chat app Fizz. The letter requested funding from alumni, either for them to remain in the 31 High Street location or for them to use to fund other housing. Twyman did not comment on the veracity of this letter. 

LEO and Sigma Nu are located at 35 High Street and 37 High Street, respectively.