Ivy Center gets new building as Lowe's moves in
http://heraldsun.southern...s.com/durham/4-997999.cfm
jmccann@heraldsun.com
Oct 13, 2008
DURHAM -- As Alpha Kappa Alpha Inc. celebrates its centennial, the ladies from a Durham extension of the sorority are getting ready to open what you might call their own birthday gift -- a brand-new building.
The Alpha Zeta Omega chapter of the AKAs were presented with a date with a bulldozer. We're not exactly talking imminent domain here. But the folks from the Lowe's home improvement stores did come seeking their cooperation for property seizure.
A new Lowe's before long will rise from the ground out there at Fayetteville Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway. It's where the sorority's Ivy Community Center sits. And it's in the way. So Lowe's folks asked if they could tear down the thing.
The local AKAs told them -- after some deliberation, of course -- to tear it down. But there were conditions: The ladies needed the Lowe's folks to raise up a new building, and the structure had to be in the same vicinity.
"That was part of the agreement. We liked our location," said Janeen Gammage, president of the Ivy Community Center, which is rented out to the public when the AKAs aren't meeting there or using the space for after-school programs and health seminars.
For their trouble, the AKAs are getting a building that's a little larger and that will feature upgraded carpet and cabinets. There's going to be more storage space. The parking lot will be bigger. And don't pull up in there trying to break in their place, because the upgrade also includes security cameras.
The new building actually is standing right now. It's just a hop, skip and a jump down from the original one.
"They are moving so fast," Gammage said about the construction.
The building could be finished by December, and at least by early next year, said Gammage, who doesn't plan to shed any mournful tears when the old building comes down. If anything, there may be some tears of joy, because the new structure offers a fresh start.
"It just shows that we're still on the move," she said.
Gammage said her chapter has about 190 active members. Which is a testament to the community-oriented dedication of AKAs all around, said Alpha Zeta Omega member Audrey Boykin. She recalled seeing so many AKAs during a centennial celebration in Washington, D.C.
"There were women there on walkers and in wheelchairs," Boykin said. "The commitment is a very, very strong one."
Some of the more prominent Bull City ladies to wear the AKAs' trademark pink and green are former County Commissioners MaryAnn Black and Mary Jacobs, retired Durham Public Schools principal Queen Scarborough and the late Elna Spaulding, also a County Commissioner here and regarded as both a racial and social trailblazer.
© 2008 by The Durham Herald Company. All rights reserved.
