Facts, Phases and Features

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Fact Sheet: UCSF Mission Bay Campus

UCSF is a leading university that advances health worldwide by conducting advanced biomedical research, educating graduate students in the life sciences and health professions, and providing complex patient care.

Overview of UCSF Mission Bay: The UCSF Mission Bay campus is a health science campus for teaching, research, and health. It is a major second campus for UCSF, with activity at the original Parnassus Heights campus continuing.

Double the space: The Mission Bay campus allows UCSF to double its research space, speed the pace of biomedical discovery, and help prepare a new generation of students.

Significance to the city: UCSF Mission Bay is the anchor of the entire Mission Bay redevelopment project, San Francisco's largest urban development since the building of Golden Gate Park. The city's Mission Bay development covers 303 acres of land between San Francisco Bay and Interstate 280.

Size and location: A 43-acre site, the Mission Bay campus is located near the S.F. Giants baseball park, about one mile south of San Francisco's Financial District. About 2.2 acres are set aside for the San Francisco Unified School District as a public school site.

Timeline: UCSF broke ground for its new campus in 1999, and the first building was occupied in 2003. It will be constructed in phases over the next 15 years and at full build-out will have 20 structures.

Scientific work: Researchers at the UCSF Mission Bay campus focus on a variety of basic science disciplines, including human genetics, developmental biology, cell biology, developmental neuroscience, molecular and cell biology, and structural and chemical biology. Much of the research involves applying mathematical and physical sciences to complex biomedical problems. Research programs and the physical layout of the buildings encourage collaboration among related disciplines, such as chemistry and biology.

Program space: About half of the program space is planned for research uses. The balance of the space will include instruction, academic support, campus administration, campus community use, housing and space for logistical operations.

Population: About 1,700 faculty, students, scholars and staff already work at the UCSF Mission Bay campus. At full build-out, 9,100 people are expected to work and study there.

Phase 1 construction: October 2005 marked completion of the major development of phase 1 at UCSF Mission Bay: three research buildings, Campus Community Center, student housing complex, two parking structures, and development of large open space. A planned cancer research building is scheduled for completion in 2008. The elements in the more than $800-million first phase are:

Genentech Hall - The first wave of faculty moved into Genentech Hall in January 2003. It was the first building to open on the new campus. A five-story building with 434,000 gross square feet, it houses programs in structural and chemical biology and molecular cell and developmental biology, as well as the Molecular Design Institute and the Center for Advanced Technology. UCSF Genentech Hall also features an auditorium, bookstore, library and a café.
Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Hall - Occupancy of the five-story research facility began in February 2004. It houses programs in human genetics, developmental biology, developmental neuroscience, and the Center for Brain Development.
Byers Hall: the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3) - This is the headquarters building for the Institute, which is a partnership with UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz. QB3 is one of the four California Institutes for Science and Innovation, developed at the initiative of the California governor, and the only one focused on biomedical research to advance human health. Research here is intensely computational, integrating physical, mathematical and engineering sciences to tackle the complexities of genomics, proteomics, protein folding and interactions, and developing imaging systems of unprecedented power and resolution for diagnosis and treatment of disease. Scientists, students and staff began moving into the building in February 2005.
Mission Bay Community Center - The four-story building is a recreation and conference center for both UCSF and the community. The Center houses a fitness complex, including indoor and rooftop pools, conference facility, assembly room, activity center and student services. The Bakar Fitness and Recreation Center opened in October 2005, and the conference facility began operations in November 2005. Catering services and a café opened in March 2006.
Mission Bay housing - UCSF's residential housing complex for students, postdoctoral scholars, visiting faculty and their families includes 431 units for 750 residents. Residents began moving in during the fall of 2005. (As part of a later building project, UCSF is also planning to provide 160 units of affordable housing for staff just north of the Mission Bay campus.)
Retail services - UCSF is developing a retail environment to occupy the plaza in front of the new housing complex. Plans call for some businesses to open in summer 2007.
Parking - The Mission Bay campus includes two parking structures: a 600-car garage adjacent to the Community Center and a second parking structure for 820 vehicles along Third Street, near the housing complex. Both are open and operational.
Helen Diller Family Cancer Research Building - This five-story building will contain research and development programs in neurological surgery, urology and cancer research. Groundbreaking was in April 2006, and completion is expected in 2008.

Phase II plans: Planning for the buildings in the second phase is not yet complete, but two projects housing neuroscience and cardiovascular programs have been identified to date.

Child care center: A child care center for 75 children, up to age 5, opened in May 2006. Information is available at www.cas.ucsf.edu/childcare/centers.

The land: The new 43-acre campus transforms land once occupied by old warehouses and rail yards. Catellus Development Corporation donated 30 acres, and the City of San Francisco donated the additional 13 acres.

Public artworks: UCSF launched a public arts program at the new Mission Bay campus to create a visually stimulating environment and a permanent legacy to the city. The program is supported by a pledge of non-state funds equal to one percent of new construction costs, as other major universities have done across the country.

Open space: The UCSF Mission Bay campus includes Koret Quad, a 3.2-acre space designed to serve as an informal, landscaped gathering place for the public as well as faculty, staff and students. The entire campus will have at least eight acres of publicly accessible open space upon completion.

Cost: Construction funds for the new campus are coming from a variety of state, University, and private sources. The expected cost of the UCSF Mission Bay Campus at completion is estimated at about $1.5 billion.

New hospital plans: UCSF plans to build a 289-bed hospital complex to serve children, women and cancer patients on a 14.5-acre site south of the existing Mission Bay campus. The plan to build the new complex was prompted by increased demand for inpatient and outpatient services, the need to address old and outdated facilities, and the need to comply with state-mandated earthquake safety standards for hospitals. By locating the new hospital complex at Mission Bay, UCSF can bring together basic scientists, clinical researchers and physicians to share resources, insights and ideas, and speed the translation of discoveries into treatments to benefit patients.

More information: For more information and an image database, visit the UCSF Mission Bay web site at: http://pub.ucsf.edu/missionbay/

Last updated July 20, 2007