Construction of the “Living Learning Neighborhood,” a number of buildings including a ‘mixed-use’ residential facility and a Social Sciences building, is estimated to be completed in the Muir Upper and Lower Lots by fall 2019. Director of Physical and Community Planning Robert Clossin announced this in a presentation to Muir College Council in January. Plans to move Sixth College to this area and designate the current Sixth College location as a “Seventh College” are also under consideration.
A document released by the UC Office of the President (UCOP) states that the project will provide approximately 1,600 new beds to comply with the UCSD Long Range Development Plan’s goal of providing housing for 50 percent of the student population on campus. Currently, half of all students are housed three in a room in rooms designed as doubles. According to the UC Regents Committee on Grounds and Buildings’ Assessment on November 14, if no housing is added, the deficit will likely greatly increase, with only 38 percent of all students housed in the 2017-18 academic year.
“It’s still being processed and going through administration–although I hear the Chancellor firmly supports it,” said Moiz Ansari, Muir College Council president. “So again, it’s not completely finalized yet. But it will most likely happen.”
The mixed-use residential facility would likely house students from Muir and Sixth Colleges. Residential Halls are expected to be 12 to 15 stories high, while learning facilities and the new Social Sciences building will likely be five to six stories according to the minutes from a Muir College Council meeting on January 14.
The Living Learning Neighborhood will also provide a 1,200-space parking structure containing an unknown distribution of A, B, and S parking spaces to replace the Muir Upper and Lower Lots’ 900 combined spaces. During construction, temporary spaces may be made available to students at Osler Lane and near the School of Medicine.
“This is a short-term solution and the long-term plan is to eventually build a Seventh College where Sixth is […] so they can accommodate even more students in the future, since I think the plan is to have [30,000] undergrads by 2019,” said Ansari.
Current plans indicate that construction on the project will start in winter or spring of 2018 and will be completed by fall 2019.