by Ryan Lamont
The University of California, Davis (UC Davis) opened the first phase of The Green at West Village student housing project, adding more than 1,000 beds to the University’s West Village neighborhood. Once the entire project is complete, the housing complex will add nearly 3,300 beds to the campus, making it the largest student housing development currently under construction in the US. Students officially moved into Phase I on September 15.
The full $575 million in project costs will come from the proceeds of a tax-exempt bond sale, the largest bond sale ever in the US for a student housing project. The Michaels Organization, a national leader in residential real estate, is working with global design, architecture, and engineering firm Stantec, which is providing lead architectural, interiors, buildings engineering, and landscape architecture services for the project. CBG Building Company is the general contractor.
Once completed, the project will be comprised of nine four-story apartment buildings along with indoor and outdoor community space and recreational fields across 34 acres. A 10,000-square-foot community building will house a fitness center, multipurpose room, and support services. With its expansive solar electric arrays, The Green contributes to the overall neighborhood goal of zero net energy, which means the project is designed to generate as much energy as it uses within a year.
During Phase I, the project team delivered the first three residential buildings, a utility building (including workspace for operations and maintenance staff), as well as outdoor courtyards between the residential buildings for students to gather. Each apartment building includes furnished bedroom and living spaces, full kitchen and common space, as well as social and study areas on each floor.
“This student housing community demonstrates what is possible when the public sector and private sector form partnerships, leveraging the strengths of both,” said Joe Coyle, president of Michaels Student Living. “We are thankful for the leadership of our University partners and honored to deliver this first phase of our affordable, sustainable living environment for the students of UC Davis.”
“We’re excited to hit this critical milestone—on schedule,” said Richey Madison, Stantec principal, West Coast Education. “This year has presented unprecedented obstacles with the ongoing impacts of the pandemic, and to see the first wave of students move into The Green is humbling for our entire public-private partnership team. This is a truly transformative project for the UC Davis student body, and one we are proud to help deliver.”
The apartment community will be operated by Michaels Student Living Management. Collegiate Housing Foundation will hold the ground lease with the University of California. UC Davis Student Housing and Dining Services will be responsible for marketing, leasing, and on-site residence life support services.
About the Michaels Organization
The Michaels Organization offers full-service capabilities in development, property management, construction, and finance and is committed to crafting housing solutions that jump start education, civic engagement and neighborhood prosperity and to creating Communities That Lift Lives.
About Stantec
Communities are fundamental. Whether around the corner or across the globe, they provide a foundation, a sense of place and of belonging. That’s why at Stantec, we always design with community in mind.
We care about the communities we serve—because they’re our communities too. This allows us to assess what’s needed and connect our expertise, to appreciate nuances and envision what’s never been considered, to bring together diverse perspectives so we can collaborate toward a shared success.
We’re designers, engineers, scientists, and project managers, innovating together at the intersection of community, creativity, and client relationships. Balancing these priorities results in projects that advance the quality of life in communities across the globe.
Stantec trades on the TSX and the NYSE under the symbol STN. Visit us at stantec.com or find us on social media.
For more information about Stantec’s response to COVID-19, visit Responding to COVID-19.
Apparently, that’s what many students, parents, and society-at-large believe. I probably believed it myself, at one time.
And some apparently believe that others should subsidize that belief.
https://calmatters.org/education/higher-education/college-beat-higher-education/2021/11/uc-housing-crisis-students-hotels/
Another example of you being conservative
Is there something wrong with being conservative?
I think almost everyone might have what’s considered conservative leaning views on some issues while they might lean left on others.
David: I’m not “afraid” of the label, as you shouldn’t be regarding your trickle-down views of housing (aligned with The Chronicle, Senator Wiener, etc.). While also ignoring what actually causes “housing shortages” in the first place.
But I don’t see how this particular observation has anything to do with conservatism or liberalism.
Say WHAT?!!! Not believing that student housing should be subsidized is ‘conservative’ ? My my how we have slid . . .
So at what percentage of the belief that people’s rent should be subsidized does one cross the line from conservative to liberal to progressive? 20% subsidized? 40% subsidized? 60% subsidized? 80% subsidized? 100% subsidized?
Does being a progressive mean believing the government should pay the rent of students? People of color? Marginalized groups all kinds? Anything but white cis-males?
UC must be VERY conservative… they believe student housing should pay for itself… including utilities, food service, admin., etc… it’s not part of the “core mission”… like parking… ‘parking’ the students is not part of the core mission…
Core mission is to educate [and research, if it compensates the UC and/or profs]… and make sure Senior Admin., tenured profs, etc., are very well compensated in salary and benefits, to that end. [perhaps I have that in the wrong order…]
The progressive critique is the privatization of the university with private investment money.
Now he’s a comedian.
But this is what the “Progressives” demanded, that housing get built on campus. Of course the AOC style progressives and the Davis style progressives are different in many ways so you need to know which progressives you are talking about to figure out what they want. Being that I’m more of a traditional Democrat I think the University should be applauded for keeping their agreement with the city for getting housing built on campus quickly once the obstacles from the locals were overcome and paying prevailing wages to the workers. The fact that the developers were able to finance it with Muni’s was a brilliant move that allowed them to aggregate the needed capital cheaply and possibly with little skin in the game.
Sadly there will be no tax money going to the city and the free funds from operation (FFO), the metric used instead of profit by REITS, will leave the area instead of going to local developers who often have a greater commitment to the community.
I think the big question now is what is going to happen with funds from the State and Feds to build student housing for low income students. That is likely the next shoe to drop.
Judging from the article’s photo, the project should have been named The Brown at West Village.
It’s not very appealing. It looks like it will get very hot there in the summer.
Wait until the tall trees mature. Oh, yeah, there won’t be any – they’d block the solar panels. So they’ll have to have more solar panels to run the air conditioning needed because the buildings will be blazing in the climate-crisis Valley sun.
The grounds look like scorched earth.
Will the place be occupied during the summer? That is when shade is most beneficial.
As for the place being ugly as has been alluded to by some. This is what you get when you need to build a lot of housing quickly. I think it looks like post WWII Eastern Europe where everything was destroyed and much housing had to be built quickly. Soviet Prague comes to mind.
The aesthetic tastes of the locals aside. We need to ask the residents how they like living there? The same can be said about the Cannery. The people I know who live in the Cannery like living there.
So funny, that’s exactly what I was thinking. I remember vacationing in Lake Bled in Slovenia. One of the most beautiful places on Earth except for the Eastern Bloc style of housing.
And we think very highly of our selves and our skills.
Stantec will also be sponsoring the next Davis Vanguard community workshop on social justice. Theoretically.
This press release you all are commenting on is over a year old.
Yeah, things have been slow lately.