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Opening for New Single Graduate Housing — April 2, 2007

What an exciting day. We’re here to celebrate the opening of our east campus single graduate housing project.  This is the first new construction of graduate housing since the Warren College Single Graduate apartments were completed in 1993.

This new housing is part of our 10-year growth plan.  It provides 800 new beds and 800 new parking spaces.  This project took only 19 months to complete.  Usually a project of this size can take up to 24 months to complete.  And this is one of the most cost-effective projects in the UC system since we hired one construction design firm to both design and build the project.  In all, it cost $78 million.  But if you break it down, it cost $132 per gross-square-foot, which is the second lowest out of all the housing projects recently built in the UC system.  Another important note - we received no outside funding for this project.  The building and operating costs will be funded by the residents who will live here.

It’s important that universities provide housing for students, on or near campus, because it offers a sense of community and connectivity, a network of friends and camaraderie.  We recently received the results of the latest Graduate Student Satisfaction Survey and housing was mentioned as a top issue that needed to be addressed.  Graduate students said their housing community is currently fragmented because many students must find housing quickly upon arrival to UCSD, before social connections are made.  They said adding new housing near campus could enhance their sense of belonging, and maximize their educational and social experience at UCSD.  They also said they wanted housing near retail, food and social venues.  This new project will provide that social connectivity, and right across the street there are several private dining and retail stores.  The Graduate Student Association will also operate a café here.  We hope this new project will help build a stronger sense of community among our graduate students. 

At the same time, we’re working to build a stronger sense of campus community as well.  Our 10-year Long-Range Development Plan goal is to be able to house 50 percent of our campus’ students.  With the completion of this project, and our next big North Campus Housing project for undergraduates, we’ll be able to house 37 percent of our students.  The North Campus Housing project will break ground this year, and will provide an additional 1,000 beds.  It should be completed by fall 2009.

Additionally, another 1,700 bed spaces are planned in Phase II of North Campus Housing and College infill projects, and additional graduate housing.  All of these projects are planned to be completed in 2011, at a cost of $275 million.  Once completed, we’ll be able to provide on-campus housing for 43 percent of our students – well on the way to our 50 percent goal.

Thanks to everyone who made this project possible, in particular: UCSD Housing and Dining Services; UCSD Facilities Design and Construction; Sundt Construction; Studio E Architects; and MVE Architects.

 

 

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