The regents of the University of California have approved plans to build new housing for 3,265 students at UC Davis’ West Village complex. Plans for the development, which will accommodate primarily transfer students and continuing undergraduates, were presented July 18 during the regents’ meeting at UC San Francisco. 

The regents also approved UC Davis’ new Long Range Development Plan, which sets out plans for future campus growth including 2 million square feet of new academic and administrative space and up to 9,050 beds of new on-campus housing, as well as the final environmental impact report for the Long Range Development Plan. 

In approving the new plan, the regents requested that UC Davis continue engaging closely with the city of Davis on housing and planning issues, and report back at a later time on efforts taken to mitigate impacts of campus growth under the previous plan. 

The West Village expansion project is included in the newly approved plan and its environmental impact report, allowing construction to go ahead. Groundbreaking is expected this year, with over 1,400 beds coming online in fall 2020 and the rest available by fall 2021.

The developer for the West Village project is University Student Living of New Jersey. It was selected based on responses to a request for proposals issued by UC Davis in June 2017. 

First opened in 2011, UC Davis West Village was designed with the goal of achieving “zero net energy” consumption. With capacity for 2,261 students in fall 2018, it is the largest such housing development in the U.S. and has been a model for other developments around the world.