UC San Diego plans residential complex that will house 2,050 students

The University of California, San Diego, has proposed building a 21-story residential tower that would be among the tallest residence halls on the West Coast and the centerpiece of a complex that will provide 2,050 beds for students.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the complex will be composed of five buildings, ranging from nine to 21 stories. In addition to student housing, it will include classrooms, a 480-seat theater, a conference center, a restaurant and retail space.

The project will initially be called the Future College Living and Learning Neighborhood and will be on the southwest edge of campus, next to the La Jolla Playhouse.

The  price tag of the project hasn’t been disclosed, but the figure is expected to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, school officials say.

The university has been planning to start construction on the complex late this year. But the timing could be affected by the coronavirus, which  already has cost UC San Diego $150 million and is expected to cost an additional $200 million to $300 million by late summer, campus officials say.

The costly pandemic led the school to hit the pause button on Triton Pavilion, a $350 million student center that will be built in the middle of campus.

The Future College Living and Learning Neighborhood is part of a plan to transform UC San Diego into a mostly residential campus. The school now has housing for more than 15,000 students. Planned construction will push that figure to 26,000 by 2028, and could make it the largest residential campus in the United States.

Chancellor Pradeep Khosla says that the number of students who live in residence halls this fall could drop by more than 2,000 because of changes wrought by the coronavirus. And overall enrollment might dip, especially among international students.

But Khosla expects the downturn to be temporary, and that the university’s enrollment could hit 42,000 within about five years.