More than 750 UCSF students, postdoctoral scholars and their families will have a new place to call home when apartments begin to become available in June 2005 at the UCSF Mission Bay campus.

The UC Regents' committees on grounds and buildings and finance approved the financing for the housing and retail project in a joint meeting on Nov. 13, 2002. The Committee on Grounds and Buildings approved the design on Dec. 13, 2002.

Total cost of the project is estimated at $112.8 million and will be funded with $82 million of external financing, $30 million in gifts (which would require interim financing) and $816,000 available to the campus. Construction is expected to begin in June 2003 with full occupancy anticipated in October 2005.

The project represents a step toward reaching UCSF's goal to provide affordable housing for 40 percent of its students and 25 percent of its postdoctoral scholars. Currently, UCSF provides housing for only 14 percent of the student body or 370 of 2,649 students and none for postdoctoral scholars.

"This housing project was never intended to meet all our housing goals," says Irene Agnos, assistant vice chancellor of University Relations at UCSF. "This is just one piece of our future housing plans."

UCSF has retained a housing consultant to look at various opportunities around the city, including the possibility of partnering with nonprofit third-party developers, Agnos says.

To be built between Third Street on the east and Fourth Street on the west on Block 20, the Mission Bay housing complex will accommodate 752 beds in 431 apartments, retail space and developed outdoor support space. Of the 431 apartments, 118 will be studios, 116 one-bedroom, 130 two-bedroom, nine three-bedroom and 58 four-bedroom units. All units will include a living room and a full kitchen with dining area.

The project, which contains 298,800 square feet of residential space, actually includes four separate buildings — three mid-rise, reaching seven-, eight- and 10-stories each, and one high-rise standing 15 stories or 155 feet tall. Each of the four buildings would have a single lobby with two elevators, mailboxes for tenants, bicycle storage, storage space and a common laundry room on the ground floor.

Monthly rental rates will be about 13 to 22 percent below market rates, depending on the size of the apartment, to help make housing more affordable to students and postdoctoral scholars.

To serve its tenants and that of the larger Mission Bay campus community, the project also entails retail spaces along the west side of Third Street and along the north side of the Plaza, which links the MUNI light rail transit stop with the campus core. It is envisioned that the 11,855 assignable square feet of retail space for up to 11 individual vendors may include food services, a convenience store, dry cleaning and banking services.

Source: Lisa Cisneros

Last updated January 28, 2005

Campus housing

The Mission Bay housing complex (20) is a 421,370 gross-square-foot building to accommodate more than 750 students, postdoctoral scholars and their families. The complex includes 431 apartments, retail space and developed outdoor space. The total cost is estimated at $112.8 million. Construction will begin in June 2003 and will be completed in June 2005. Full occupancy is anticipated in October 2005.