UC Regents consider 23-story Berkeley student housing project

BERKELEY, Calif. - The lack of student housing at UC Berkeley has made headlines for years, especially due to the controversy surrounding the plan to develop People's Park into a multi-story dorm building. That project broke ground last July, but the university is eyeing another parcel of land for a larger housing development.

The University of California Board of Regents' Finance and Capital Strategies Committee is meeting tomorrow to discuss a planned 23-story tower at 2200 Bancroft Way, which would add 1,625 beds and a new dining hall to the school's infrastructure. The project is estimated to cost over $443 million. If the committee approves the project, construction is slated to begin in January 2026, with a completion date in the summer of 2028.

Alleviating housing stress

What they're saying:

Unlike the People's Park development, the Bancroft Student Housing Project hasn't faced any opposition from the community, Kyle Gibson, UC Berkeley's director of communications, said.

"We have strong support from the city of Berkeley and from our students to build more student housing," Gibson said. "This is going to be the largest, tallest student housing project we've built (so far). It's part of our commitment to making a meaningful difference in the lack of affordable student housing."

The Finance and Capital Strategies Committee agenda states that the project will feature triple-occupancy rooms, intended to alleviate the cost of housing for Berkeley's incoming students. The document shows projected monthly rental rates for a triple-bedroom unit at $1,792 for the 2028-2029 school year, which is around $600 for each occupant.

The proposal shows the development would be an L-shaped tower, with one branch rising ten stories above Durant Avenue and the other 263-foot, 23-story tower over Bancroft Way. In addition to 583 new residences and a 41,000-square-foot dining hall, the development will also include study spaces, a fitness center, laundry, music and presentation rooms and a communal kitchen, as well as 700-square-feet of bicycle parking. The designs do not provide any vehicle parking.

A rendering of the proposed UC Berkeley student housing development at 2200 Bancroft Way in Southside, Berkeley. (UC Berkeley)

Student body

By the numbers:

UC Berkeley's current housing infrastructure has beds for 11,930 students. The People's Park housing development and the Bancroft Way project will add 1,113 and 1,625 beds respectively.

As of the start of the 2024 school year, there were 33,070 undergraduates and 12,812 graduate students enrolled at the school, Gibson said.

People's Park

Housing Woes:

UC Berkeley's most notable housing development is the People's Park student housing development. That project, which broke ground last July, will add 1,100 student beds, and could potentially include 100 units of housing for Berkeley's unhoused residents.

That plan was hotly contested by residents in lawsuits that made it all the way to the California State Supreme Court, which ruled last June that construction could commence.

"One thousand beds of student housing is going to help relieve the shortage of housing in our community, and students deserve access to affordable housing," Berkeley's then-mayor Jesse Arreguín said at the time.

The original plans called for the construction of supportive housing for unhoused residents and those with extremely low incomes, but the locally-based nonprofit set to build those apartments stepped away from the project in 2023, in the midst of the legal battles over the future of the park.

Gibson said UC Berkeley is currently seeking a new developer for that portion of the project.

That project is expected to be ready for student occupancy in time for the start of the 2027-2028 school year.