California IN BRIEF : PALO ALTO : Quake-Damaged Building Razed

An earthquake-damaged fraternity house that Stanford University students and alumni fought to save was torn down after campus officials rejected a $1-million offer to restore it. Bulldozers razed Synergy House, vacant since the Oct. 17, 1989, Loma Prieta quake. The 80-year-old building was one of three damaged frat houses that preservationists sought to save and restore for student housing. Stanford turned down the restoration offer by the Campus Cooperative Development Corp. because the deal called for the Michigan-based group to buy the university land where the house would be moved, Stanford President Donald Kennedy said. The university has a longtime policy against selling campus property, Kennedy said. Formerly the Sigma Nu chapter house, Synergy House in recent years was a cooperative. One of the other quake-damaged buildings was destroyed last month by a fire, but university officials have said the third may be restored as faculty housing.