After more than six years of discussions on how to revamp Alpha Drive near the Tempe campus, the University and fraternities are as close as they’ve ever been to resolution, the fraternities’ representative said.

ASU and Threshold, LLC signed an official agreement on Nov. 5 that laid out plans to exchange parcels of land near Alpha Drive, said Jeff Abraham, the executive director of the group that represents the houses on Alpha Drive.

After signing the agreement, ASU and Threshold were given 45 more days to work out technicalities of a property exchange that would allow the two sides to begin simultaneous construction projects on Alpha Drive to improve the University’s Greek life, Abraham said.

“There are obviously still issues to be decided, but this is pretty far down the road,” he said. “We’ve completed a lot in getting to where we’re at, at this point.”

However, Abraham said the project could still be halted.

“As in most legal documents, there are provisions that if one party fails to perform, the other party has the right to terminate the agreement,” he said. “There are certainly places where there could be some roadblocks, but at this point, we’re continuing to move forward as if everything’s in good shape.”

Although both sides have signed the agreement, there are more steps to be taken before construction begins, Abraham said.

“It is likely that construction will not start from 18 months to two years at the earliest simply because of all the work that has to happen between now and then,” he said.

The University’s sororities have been included in the discussions to revamp Alpha Drive. Abraham said the sororities have the option to choose to move to Alpha Drive, but nothing has been decided.

“It’s really up to the sororities,” he said. “The sororities could either stay where they are currently at Adelphi, they may choose to participate in the Threshold project, they may choose to participate in something new that the University might build for them, but at this point the sororities haven’t made any commitments to anything.”

Kinesiology sophomore Annsley Pennell, a member of Alpha Chi Omega, said she is interested in the idea of sororities having real housing on Alpha Drive.

“I’ve seen at other universities how extravagant and beautiful the houses can be and how many people they can hold,” she said. “Adelphi isn’t horrible but it’s not giving us the full opportunity of Greek life.”

Pennell said she wouldn’t mind the sororities joining Alpha Drive and leaving behind the Adelphi Commons if they were kept separate from the fraternities, because it could cause a lot of chaos.

“If there were somewhat of separation between [the sororities and fraternities] I wouldn’t mind it,” she said. “If they were too close to each other it would cause a lot of problems, a lot of issues.”

Regent Robert Bulla, who has been a facilitator between the University and the fraternities, said he was very pleased with the work completed by both sides to come to the exchange agreement.

“The project is underway — it’s been agreed to and there’s going to be all kinds of things there,” he said.

Abraham said the current plans for the future of Alpha Drive include student housing, fraternity housing, a hotel and conference center, an entertainment and retail center and a community center.

Bulla said the fraternities were also given 30 days for the owners of the houses on Alpha Drive to sign consent forms, but he doesn’t anticipate any issues or problems.

“I think they can be all worked through,” he said.

Discussions to revamp Alpha Drive go back more than six years and have included a lot of different people, Bulla said.

“It’s in the future — we can see it,” he said. “It was just better for everybody to have reached this agreement.”

Reach the reporter at salvador.rodriguez@asu.edu.