The University of California Board of Regents has unanimously approved an expansion of UC Merced that will nearly double that campus’ physical capacity by 2020 to facilitate enrollment to 10,000 students, up from 6,700 today.
UC Merced opened in the San Joaquin Valley in 2005, making it the first new campus in the University of California system in four decades. In recent years its application growth rate has been double the UC system’s average.
The Regents approval should lead to a formal project agreement next month, with groundbreaking scheduled for October. The university has entered into an “availability-payment concession,” a kind of private-public partnership, with Plenary Properties Merced, which was named development partner in June. Plenary will be responsible for design, construction, operations, maintenance, and partial financing of all new facilities over the 39-year term of the contract.
Upon expiration of the contract, UC Merced will assume maintenance of the buildings and land it will own.
As part of this agreement Plenary increased its investment in design and construction by $204 million. UC financing contribution will be $600 million. The total budget for this project’s design and construction is now $1.338 billion, up from the previously approved $1.142 billion.
The expansion will add about 1.2 million gross sf (790,000 of assignable square footage) of teaching, research, residential, and student-support facilities adjacent to the existing campus. The assignable space is less than the 918,000 sf originally planned, as UC Merced is emphasizing interdisciplinary learning and research, and requires a more flexible and efficient design for its future needs.
Design adjustments also allowed UC Merced to lower its financial commitment by nearly $9 million.
The first buildings should be completed by 2018. Webcor Construction is the general contractor. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill is the lead campus planner. And Johnson Controls is the project’s lead operations and management firm.
This phase of UC Merced’s 2020 Project Master Plan includes state-of-the-art research labs arranged around a new quadrangle and a multifunctional dining facility. The plan also calls for 1,700 beds, as well as classrooms, recreation fields, and a competition pool.
The expansion is projected to create more than 12,000 construction jobs, and produce a one-time statewide economic benefit of $2.4 billion, of which $1.9 billion should benefit the region alone.
Related Stories
| Dec 9, 2012
Modular classroom building makes the grade
SAGE modular classroom opens eyes, minds at Greenbuild 2012.
| Nov 28, 2012
Francis Cauffman appoints Stainbrook Director of Higher Education
Stainbrook has 16 years of experience as a strategic planner and urban designer working on complex projects on- and off-campus.
| Nov 20, 2012
PC Construction completes Juniper Hall at Champlain College
Juniper Hall is on track for LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
| Nov 11, 2012
Greenbuild 2012 Report: Higher Education
More and more colleges and universities see sustainainably designed buildings as a given
| Oct 4, 2012
2012 Reconstruction Awards Gold Winner: Wake Forest Biotech Place, Winston-Salem, N.C.
Reconstruction centered on Building 91.1, a historic (1937) five-story former machine shop, with its distinctive façade of glass blocks, many of which were damaged. The Building Team repointed, relocated, or replaced 65,869 glass blocks.
| Sep 7, 2012
Net-zero energy pioneers on the el-hi frontier
Getting to net-zero is not easy, but the promise of eliminating energy bills and using state-of-the-art technology as a learning lab can make a compelling case to reach for net-zero.
| Aug 30, 2012
John S Clark Co. completes teaching lab at UNC Wilmington
Three-story building provides offices, classrooms, and labs.
| Aug 15, 2012
Skanska to build the Beacon High School in New York City
The Beacon High School will be located in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan.
| Aug 7, 2012
Shedding light on the arts
Renovating Pietro Belluschi’s Juilliard School opens the once-cloistered institution to its Upper West Side community.
| Jul 25, 2012
KBE Building renovates UConn dining hall
Construction for McMahon Dining Hall will be completed in September 2012.