Penn State to buy former frat where Timothy Piazza fell, later died after hazing
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Penn State plans to buy the former Beta Theta Pi house for $7.3 million.
- The university will not use the property for student housing or Greek life.
- A court upheld Penn State’s right to reacquire the property under a 1920s deed.
Editor’s note: This story was updated on July 18 after the full Penn State Board of Trustees voted on the acquisition.
Penn State will repurchase the former fraternity house where pledge Timothy J. Piazza fell and later died after he was hazed eight years ago, a move that could close one chapter in the sprawling fallout from the sophomore’s death.
A board of trustees committee recommended Thursday the university acquire the property that’s home to the former Beta Theta Pi house, 220 N. Burrowes Road in State College, for $7.3 million. The finance and investment committee vote was unanimous.
The full board unanimously approved the proposal Friday.
Penn State has not publicly said what it plans to do with the on-campus property long term, only that it would be “put toward a positive purpose.” It would not be used for student housing or any Greek organization.
Sara Thorndike, the university’s senior vice president for finance and business, said Thursday the property would temporarily be used as a “swing space.” She said the university will consider what to do with the property long term as it updates its master plan.
The university appraised the property’s value at $5.45 million in 2024, while the Alpha Upsilon chapter of Beta Theta Pi appraised it at $12.25 million. The chapter’s board has already approved the agreement, Thorndike said.
The university’s push to acquire the property dates back to former President Eric Barron’s administration. He regularly exchanged emails with Piazza’s father, who he said pushed “very, very strongly” to make sure the property would never again be used as a frat.
“What occurred was just reprehensible. It was awful,” Barron testified at an October 2021 bench trial. “It was a case where I believe a young man’s life could have been saved if people cared about him.”
Jim Piazza has suggested either demolishing the house or replacing it with an engineering building named in his son’s honor. The 19-year-old engineering student hoped to develop prosthetic devices for children.
Piazza has praised the university’s efforts to acquire the property and previously said his family believes the remaining active alumni members who sought to keep the house were “part of the problem.”
“To us, returning the house to the University was a no-brainer from the beginning,” Piazza said in an email to the Centre Daily Times.
After the trial that featured testimony from some of the most powerful people at the university, Centre County Judge Brian Marshall found Penn State had the right to purchase the property from the fraternity chapter’s alumni corporation. He relied on language in a nearly 100-year-old deed that said the university could reacquire the property if it was no longer used as a fraternity.
Penn State permanently banned the chapter about two months after Piazza died of severe head and abdominal injuries following a series of falls in February 2017. A statewide appeals court upheld the ruling in October 2023.
The sale was further complicated because of lawsuits filed by Donald G. Abbey, a former Penn State football player and Beta Theta Pi alumnus turned commercial real estate CEO in California who sought to recoup the more than $10 million he loaned the fraternity for renovations.
The two sides reached a tentative settlement in May after a federal judge dismissed one of Abbey’s lawsuits, finding he lacked a basis to prevent or become involved in the sale.
“We are pleased that, after more than eight years after our son’s death, the University and Mr. Abb(e)y have finally come to a resolution about the house that Tim‘s life was taken at,” Piazza said. “... While we understand, Mr. Abb(e)y‘s point of view, I hope and suspect he finally came to the realization that it was his former friends and colleagues that wronged him, not Penn State University.
“We now hope the University will put the house or the property to good use for the betterment of its students.”
This story was originally published July 17, 2025 at 3:04 PM.