The new housing project undergoing construction on North
Campus behind the
first on-campus housing built specifically for transfer students.
Officially titled the Village at Torrey Pines West, the new
housing complex will replace approximately five acres of land that formerly
served as campus parking lots.
“The project will include 370,000 gross square feet for
student and staff living units as well as a variety of retail space, including
a satellite bookstore and small cafe, administration offices, meeting and
conference facilities, laundry, mail and other life-enhancing amenities,” said
Rob Batt, the associate director of planning and construction for UCSD Housing,
Dining and Hospitality Services.
The complex will consist of several three- and four-story
buildings alongside a 14-story tower. It will be the first housing area on
campus to offer undergraduates the option of entering a 12-month housing
contract, as opposed to the nine-month option currently available for all other
on-campus housing.
University officials are promoting on-campus housing as a
cost-efficient housing option in the expensive
region while attending UCSD.
“A report on undergraduate student experience and
satisfaction submitted to the chancellor in September 2005, by a committee mainly
comprising UCSD students, emphasized the academic advantages of living on
campus, especially for transfer students,” Batt said. “The project will
increase the supply of affordable student housing, and its cost benefits will
become more pronounced over time.”
The project will be open for student occupancy by September
2009, Project Manager Mark Rowland said.
“There have been no glitches in construction, and the
project is running on schedule,” he said.
According to Rowland, the project, which utilizes the
“design-build” methodology in which the contractor and architect team work
together to complete the design of the project and prepare the construction
documents, is proceeding rapidly.
“While it might have seemed to those unfamiliar with the
design-build process that the project was taking longer to get off the ground
than usual construction projects, in reality, the project was proceeding as
fast as or even faster than a traditional design-bid-build project,” Rowland
said.
The new housing buildings will provide approximately 1,800
beds, built apartment-style, and will be available to undergraduate students
affiliated with any of the six UCSD colleges, Batt said.
On-campus housing for incoming transfer students is not
currently guaranteed, as first-year students and continuing students are given
higher priority, according to HDHS. Transfer students can put down their name
on a wait list and hope for a vacancy, but have no guarantee of on-campus
housing.
First-year students who are admitted for Winter Quarter, who
may already have upper-division standing because of previous higher education
elsewhere, are also not guaranteed housing.
Citing high demand for on-campus housing, as well as an
expected 100 percent occupancy rate for fall 2008, HDHS usually recommends that
these students search for residences that are located off campus.
“The project will provide an increased supply of affordable
housing for transfer and upper-division students, and enhance the recruitment
and retention of these students,” Batt said.
Over the last 10 years, new student enrollment has increased
39 percent, with 70 percent of new student enrollments consisting of first-time
freshmen, according to UCSD admissions statistics. Housing services expects to
place 65 percent of first-year freshmen in triple-occupancy rooms.
The North Campus housing project is not the only student
housing project in the planning stages for future students.
“There are four other housing projects of various magnitude
currently in the design stages,” Rowland said.
