The University of California Riverside (UCR) and Riverside Community College District (RCCD) have come together to start a project known as North District Phase 2, that would allow students from both schools to share the same housing facility.
After a groundbreaking ceremony on November 8th construction officially started and is expected to be completed in August of 2025. The construction is currently located just west of the current North District Housing Complex, to keep the project close to campus.
Originally, plans for the construction of a new student housing facility related to the North District were reported as early as November of 2022, with mention of the project going back even farther to Fall of 2021. However, in September of this year the University of California Regents came together and approved the project’s external financing with $348.7 million. This project also follows the construction of North District Phase 1, which was completed in 2020. According to Melissa Garrety, Senior Project Planner for Phase 2, “When the state of California made the Student Housing Grant Fund available to community colleges and 4-year institutions last year, UCR leadership and RCCD leadership began discussing working together for Phase 2.”
The project will consist of two apartment-style facilities, covering 425,000 square-feet of a 4.5-acre site, and will have 1,568 beds. The new building will house students from RCCD schools and UCR under one roof in an effort to encourage and motivate students to attend four-year universities such as UCR.
UCR Chancellor, Kim A. Wilcox and RCCD Chancellor, Wolde-Ab Isaac showed up to speak at the ceremony and express their hopes for the outcome of this collaboration. The Chancellors spoke about how beneficial this project is for the students, as well as how exciting a project such as this one can be for the entire school community.
Garrety added, “Not only because it’s the first of its kind, but because it really will be instrumental in changing the transfer student experience.”
Chelsea Quinteros, a Riverside Community College student expressed her interest in moving into the Phase 2 building when it’s finished.
“Yes, I’d live there since it’s closer to campus,” Quinteros said. “It’ll just depend on the housing cost and how it affects tuition.”
For now, a construction crew continues to clear the site and make way for the foundation of the North District Phase 2 building. Soon enough, a new wave of students will have a new reason to live on campus.