Alpha Delta Pi sisters, members of the International Alpha Delta Pi Grand Council and family members gathered Saturday morning at the site of the sorority’s future house. Located at 607 Rebel Drive, it will be the first new sorority house on the Ole Miss campus since the 1970s.

“It is more than a dream come true; it is an obsession satisfied,” said Stacy DeMartini Brunton, Alpha Delta Pi international vice president of collegiate membership.

The groundbreaking event consisted of speeches by several Ole Miss Greek board members and Alpha Delta Pi International board members. Representatives of Hug & Associates, LLC, the architecture firm designing the house, and contractor Genoa Construction Company were also present.

“This house will be a tangible representation of the sisterhood that has brought us together,” said Kelly Rist, Ole Miss Alpha Delta Pi chapter president.

The event concluded with a ceremonial ground breaking by shoveling dirt from the construction site and a releasing of balloons in Alpha Delta Pi’s blue and white colors.

Architecture firm Hug & Associates, LLC, has designed Greek housing at several other universities, including the house for the Epsilon Eta chapter of Alpha Delta Pi at Mississippi State University.

Genoa Construction Company is responsible for the Beta Epsilon chapter house at the University of South Carolina as well as Alpha Delta Pi’s national headquarters in Atlanta.

The 18,790 square-foot buildingwill contain several parlor areas and bathroom suites, a study room, a sitting room, a commercial kitchen, laundry facilities, a chapter and dining room and a suite for the residence house director. The exterior will feature white columns, porches and porticos.

The house, expected to hold its first occupants in Fall 2015, is estimated to cost $5 million, accommodating 64 members in 31 double rooms and two single rooms.