{"id":31114,"date":"2024-01-14T13:07:20","date_gmt":"2024-01-14T21:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=31114"},"modified":"2024-01-14T13:08:54","modified_gmt":"2024-01-14T21:08:54","slug":"university-of-california-considers-s-f-for-expansion-in-wake-of-mayor-breeds-plea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/01\/14\/university-of-california-considers-s-f-for-expansion-in-wake-of-mayor-breeds-plea\/","title":{"rendered":"University of California considers S.F. for expansion in wake of Mayor Breed\u2019s plea"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Laura Waxmann<\/a> Jan 13, 2024 (SFChroncile.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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UC College of the Law San Francisco recently built its  student housing development Academe at 198. The University of California is considering expanding its presence in San Francisco after Mayor London Breed reached out to persuade the university system to grow its footprint in the city. Lea Suzuki\/The Chronicle 2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The University of California is considering expanding its presence in San Francisco after Mayor London Breed reached out to persuade the university system to grow its footprint downtown. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesperson for the UC Office of the President \u2014 which serves as the Oakland-based headquarters for the university system\u2019s 10 campuses, five medical centers and three affiliated national laboratories \u2014 said the system is \u201cexploring opportunities to advance their research, public service, and education mission through an expanded presence in San Francisco.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

UC Office of the President spokesperson Rachel Zaentz added that UC Berkeley is also involved in this effort. Both the president’s office and UC Berkeley are looking at options in response to a letter penned by Mayor London Breed<\/a> in May to the UC Board of Regents requesting that it consider opening a new campus in downtown San Francisco. More than one-third of the space inside of the city\u2019s office towers is sitting vacant due to increasing remote work in the wake of the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is unclear whether any specific downtown commercial properties have been pitched to UC Office of the president, though it is no secret that Breed has been eager to find viable reuse options for San Francisco\u2019s largest shopping mall: the former Westfield San Francisco Centre at 865 Market St., which was seized by its lenders last year amid an exodus of its retail tenants. On Friday, new documents showed the value of the San Francisco Centre had plunged by nearly $1 billion<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the letter to the regents, Breed said that \u201cbringing students into the heart of San Francisco affords a set of remarkable opportunities\u201d and it would give young people access to \u201ca vibrant and world class metropolitan center, and could also serve to alleviate some of your critical student housing shortfalls at both UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco.\u201d

UC Office of the President officials met Friday to discuss the possibility. Jeff Cretan, Breed\u2019s spokesperson, said Friday that the parties are in \u201ccontinuing conversations,\u201d but that there are \u201cno concrete proposals. We are exploring a lot of different options.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile we cannot discuss details of the conversations currently underway, as a powerful economic driver for the state, the University is committed to strategies that invigorate local economies and offer exciting educational and research opportunities for UC students and faculty,\u201d the UC Office of the President spokesperson said in an email to the Chronicle this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, Dan Mogulof, a spokesperson for UC Berkeley, said on Thursday that the university is \u201calways interested in options that are viable\u201d for adding housing for its graduate students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ongoing \u201cexploratory discussions\u201d also involve \u201cpotentially buildings for academic purposes,\u201d Mogulof said. \u201cThe only thing that\u2019s not on the table for us is undergraduate housing in San Francisco.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

UC Berkeley already has one campus extension in downtown San Francisco, where it occupies space inside of a 19-story office tower at 160 Spear St. for its art and design programs. No changes are planned to that location, Mogulof said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UC Berkeley has for some time been advertising a \u201cnew off campus option\u201d for graduates this fall in San Francisco at 198 McAllister, a recently developed residential building that is part of the UC College of the Law San Francisco\u2019s \u2014 formerly UC Hastings \u2014 \u201cacademic village,\u201d<\/a> though officials at the law school have cited frustration<\/a> with the area\u2019s street conditions and safety. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight now, there are several paths being considered,\u201d Zaentz reiterated on Friday.

In July, UC Berkeley economist Enrico Moretti told the Chronicle that the idea of bringing a campus to downtown San Francisco \u201cis one of the best directions I\u2019ve heard recently for helping downtown. The potential economic benefits are substantial, locally and citywide, and regionally.\u201d

Others cautioned that an ambitious project like opening a new campus downtown would be a challenge and take time. David Faigman, chancellor and dean at UC College of the Law San Francisco, told the Chronicle in July that if a new university started with a few buildings and gradually expanded, it might open within five years. \u201cAnything less would be heroic and unlikely,\u201d he said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reach Laura Waxmann: laura.waxmann@sfchronicle.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jan 13, 2024 (SFChronicle.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Laura Waxmann<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laura Waxmann covers the business community with a focus on commercial real estate, development, retail and the future of San Francisco’s downtown. Prior to joining The Chronicle in 2023, she reported on San Francisco’s changing real estate and economic landscape in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic for the San Francisco Business Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Waxmann was born and raised in Frankfurt, Germany, but has called San Francisco home since 2007. She’s reported on a variety of topics including housing, homelessness, education and local politics for the San Francisco Examiner, Mission Local and El Tecolote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She can be reached at\u00a0laura.waxmann@sfchronicle.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Laura Waxmann Jan 13, 2024 (SFChroncile.com) The University of California is considering expanding its presence in San Francisco after Mayor London Breed reached out to persuade the university system to grow its footprint downtown.  A spokesperson for the UC Office of the President \u2014 which serves as the Oakland-based headquarters for… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1726],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31114"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31114"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31122,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31114\/revisions\/31122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}