Hearing that two new fraternity houses are being built in your neighborhood will wake you up quicker than an $8 cup of Starbucks. That’s indeed the case for one Lawrence neighborhood, but this neighborhood may not mind much. It already speaks Greek.

Plans have been filed for about $2 million worth of fraternity house construction at 1505 Sigma Nu Place. That’s a vacant lot next to the Sigma Nu fraternity, which, for those of you no longer in the fraternity know, is just a bit of west of Emery Road, northwest of the KU campus. More specifically, Sigma Nu is at the intersection of Sigma Nu Place and what very well may be the most stolen street sign in Lawrence . . . High Drive.

I thought I had the exact location for the project figured out but then realized, much like with Greek alphabet, I was confused. (Don’t even get me started about the time I learned Pi did not involve pie.) I’ll report back on the exact location later today. (UPDATE: It is on vacant land just west and across the street from the Sigma Nu house. Here’s a photo of the site.)

Greek Housing USA, a Springfield, Mo.-based company, will build the two houses. Pi Kappa Phi will be the tenant for the bigger of the two houses, a 26-bedroom, three-story home. The second house — a three story, 20-bedroom house — will be rented by the Zeta Beta Tau — or ZBT — fraternity.

Roger Lantz, principal with Greek Housing USA, said the neighborhood is well situated to accommodate the two new homes. The 2.5 acre site is already zoned for fraternity construction. Lantz said parking is always a big issue with fraternity house construction, but he said this site will be able to accommodate at least 80 off-street parking spaces, and perhaps upwards of 90 spaces.

“There will be no on-street parking,” Lantz said. “We want to be good neighbors.”

He said plans are being created to limit the amount of lighting in the parking lots, and to push the parking lots back on the site to be farther from the general neighborhood.

As for the houses themselves, Lantz said they’ll be all-brick homes with commercial kitchens, extensive privacy fencing around the back yards, and a few outdoor amenities, such as a volleyball court.

“They’ll be legacy homes,” he said. “All-brick, big columns, lots of steel. They are built to last.”

The neighborhood already is one of the hotspots for Greek housing. Among the houses in the vicinity are: Alpha Chi Omega, Sigma Nu, Delta Gamma, Delta Upsilon, Kappa Sigma, Kappa Delta, Alpha Delta Pi, and others. (I should remember them all. I lived in an apartment house a couple of blocks away. Just like a fraternity has a motto, this apartment complex had one too: Do not cross yellow hazard tape.)

Lantz said he hopes to begin construction this summer. Construction is expected to be complete in about a year.

Pi Kappa Phi was previously renting a house, but needed to find other accommodations, Lantz said. ZBT has been without a fraternity house for a while, he said.

In other news and notes from around town:

• I reported a couple of weeks ago that an eastside shopping center had fallen into foreclosure and soon would be sold at a sheriff’s auction.

Well, the auction for the shopping center at 23rd and Harper streets has been held, but the shopping center’s ownership likely isn’t settled yet. U.S. Bank, the financial institution that held the mortgage, bought the shopping center for $5,000,032 in a sheriff’s auction that produced about 15 minutes of back-and-forth bidding.

The attorney for the bank said the shopping center — which houses Set ‘Em Up Jack’s and other businesses — was being immediately transferred to a group called MSCI 2007-IQ16 East 23rd Street LLC. There are sign companies across the city hoping they sure put a sign up. It would be like winning the lottery.

Don’t count on it though. A little research through the Kansas Secretary of State’s database shows the company is managed by a Miami Beach company called LNR Partners, LLC. LNR Partners is one of the largest companies that helps banks sell commercial property that they have foreclosed upon. I haven’t talked with anyone at LNR, but it would seem likely that its task is to find a buyer for the shopping center.

If you are fans of some of the businesses in the shopping center — Tres Mexicanos and Subway are a couple more businesses in the center — don’t worry. The foreclosure does not mean those businesses have lost their leases. They are just all wondering who their new landlord will be. The foreclosure also included the building at the corner of the intersection that includes the Conoco gas station and adjacent liquor store.

Lawrence businessman Bill Schulteis was the only other bidder in the auction. He bid a little more than $5 million for the shopping center. Schulteis heads a group that owns the Orchards Corner shopping center at Bob Billings and Kasold, and also owns the shopping center at Sixth and Wakarusa that includes Morningstar’s Pizza, Eileen’s Colossal Cookies and other businesses.