UC Davis is seeking proposals to build housing providing more than 2,775 beds for students with families as well as graduate and transfer students, to open by 2020. The successful proposals will optimize affordability and build community.

The Request for Proposals released this week combines two student housing projects at Orchard Park and West Village to attract proposals from a predetermined pool of eight developers. The developers, vetted by the UC Student Housing Initiative, are expected to deliver beds more quickly than the traditional RFP process.

“Our goal is to provide students with affordable housing options that are close to the UC Davis core campus,” said Emily Galindo, associate vice chancellor and executive director of UC Davis Student Housing.

Orchard Park

The Orchard Park Project will provide 200 affordable, two-bedroom apartment units to serve UC Davis students with families, replacing a like number of apartments on the site that closed in 2014. UC Davis also is seeking an additional 700 beds for single graduate students, but developers are strongly encouraged to submit proposals that exceed the target. The RFP identifies reduced on-site parking, taller buildings with no height limits and reduced site amenities as site-planning options to increase density above the housing target. In total, this project will serve at least 900 students (plus family members), four times the number of students it had previously accommodated. 

West Village

The West Village Transfer Student Housing Project will provide a target of 1,875 beds of apartment-style student housing, most of which (approximately 1,000 beds) will be master leased back to UC Davis to serve transfer students and continuing undergraduate students. As with the Orchard Park Project, the RFP encourages the developer to exceed the target of 1,875 beds if financially feasible.

“Each project will help the university achieve our ambitious campus planning and sustainability goals,” said Bob Segar, assistant vice chancellor of campus planning and environmental stewardship. “The projects will offer compact and connected housing with easy access to academic and student activities.”

Developers may respond to either one or both projects. UC Davis aims to identify a developer or developers with whom to begin negotiations by mid-September 2017.

To get to this point, campus planners have consulted with students, Student Housing and Dining Services, and the Office of Graduate Studies on how best to provide affordable, comfortable housing for students with families.

“We’re grateful to all who participated in the consultation and planning process and we’re looking forward to a development that expands housing opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students with families, as well as our transfer student population,” said Grant Rockwell, assistant vice chancellor for capital planning and real estate.

The housing projects at Orchard Park and West Village are part of the draft campus 2017 Long Range Development Plan’s goal for housing to increase by 6,200 students to a total of 15,600 students housed on campus.