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PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
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Princeton, New Jersey 08544
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Justin Harmon 609/258-5732
Date: May 27, 1997
University, Eating Club
Reach Agreement on Property
PRINCETON, N.J. -- Princeton University and Dial, Elm and Cannon Club have reached an agreement under which the University will acquire the parking lot behind Dial Lodge and, within a year, the Club will decide whether it wishes to transfer the remainder of the Dial property and the Elm property to the University in exchange for Notestein Hall (the former Cannon Club) and an additional cash payment.
Dial, Elm and Cannon is a single club that was formed in 1990 through the consolidation of Dial, Elm and Cannon clubs. Members of the club currently take their meals and socialize in Elm, while some members live in Dial. Cannon Club closed its doors in 1975 and was then obtained and renovated by the University to become, as Notestein Hall, the home of the Office of Population Research.
Under the terms of the agreement, Dial, Elm and Cannon Club will immediately transfer the backlot of its Dial property to the University. This lot is currently used by the club for student parking. If the club chooses not to transfer the other properties to the University, it will receive a payment from the University of $1.25 million a year from now.
If the club decides within the next year to proceed with the additional transfers, it will transfer its Elm and Dial properties to the University, and the University will transfer the Cannon property and a total cash payment of $2 million to the club. In addition, the University will construct a three-story garage behind the Cannon building, with the club getting use of the top (third) deck which, because of the slope of the land, will be at ground level. The University will use the two lower levels for its own parking needs.
If the club proceeds with these transfers, the agreement provides that its members will be able to continue to use the current Elm facility until the club's renovations of Cannon are complete.
The University plans to use the lot behind Dial for a new academic building that will be associated with the other social science buildings in that part of campus, including Fisher, Bendheim, Corwin and Robertson halls.
According to University Vice President Thomas H. Wright Jr. '62, "This agreement enables both the University and Dial, Elm and Cannon to achieve important objectives. From the standpoint of the University, it allows us to construct needed space to support the social sciences, potentially to acquire other properties that can serve yet-to-be-identified University purposes over time, and to provide additional parking space in anticipation of a variety of future needs, including the replacement of existing spaces we will lose when we construct our new campus center."
Warren Crane '62, chairman of the club's Graduate Board, indicated that "Dial, Elm and Cannon Club is pleased with the recently signed agreement and is appreciative of the efforts of the many University officials who participated in making it a reality. The agreement provides the opportunity to satisfy the long-standing desire of Cannon alumni to see Cannon once again operate as an undergraduate eating club. Naturally, the Dial and Elm alumni, as well as the club's undergraduate membership, potentially have varying perspectives regarding the future use and disposition of the various properties in question. All of these issues will be sorted out over the next twelve months. In any case, the club believes its future has been enhanced greatly by this agreement with the University."