Bisnow’s San Diego Student Housing Summit Tackles Affordability, Accessibility and Deliverability
By Torrey Sims
SAN DIEGO — The first-ever -hosted took place on Feb. 12 at the University of San Diego. Despite the rainy weather, the event brought in close to 400 attendees and focused on the planning, development, construction and design of higher education facilities and university housing units. In particular, the two sessions and variety of expert panelists dove into the deliverability of student housing—as well as the trends and current challenges and realities that developers, AEC professionals and end users are experiencing.
Kicking off the half-day event, Joseph Von Meier, partner at CGS3, moderated the first presentation, “Developing & Designing the Next Generation Of Student Housing.” Panelists included Hemlata Jhaveri, senior associate vice chancellor for residential, retail and supply chain services, UC San Diego; Alex Leonard, senior director of development, Greystar; Eric Naslund, principal, Studio E; Guy Carpino, engineering principal, Michael Baker International; Jason Dunster, senior integrated design director, McCarthy Building Companies; and Chris Sullivan, project director, Sundt. Von Meier explored a few topics but key among them was delivering cost-effective solutions for student populations, while not sacrificing quality, design and safety.
Both Jhaveri and Dunster discussed how student housing facility design has shifted and how both facility operators and AEC professionals are responding to students’ changing needs. “Since COVID, we are really looking at amenities that set [students] up for success,” explained Jhaveri.
Panelists dove into those amenities and how facility owners/operators are spending money wisely based on the needs of the current student population. Some “standout amenities” that have become popular for on- and off-campus student housing, according to Dunster, include more indoor/outdoor community spaces to prepare students for a remote workforce and create healthy habits around work-life balance; creating gathering spaces through unconventional spaces that are “typically hidden”, including laundry areas; outdoor security that blend into the natural environment; and student-favorite rooftop terraces.
In conjunction with creating community spaces, on-campus facilities departments are prioritizing mental health programming through residential programs. While these programs vary from campus to campus, in general, programming is all about building a safe community space to thrive, including offering wellness activities, cooking courses, community gardening, residential events and more.
While providing high-end amenities to student populations at an affordable price is desirable for many owner/operators, there are obvious barriers. However, panelists explored tried-and-true construction and delivery methods to help mitigate some of these challenges, including prefabrication.
“We are seeing a faster construction timeframe by utilizing prefab buildings…and the quality is really the same, so we are able to complete projects faster and more efficiently by incorporating these different methods,” said Sullivan.
The session concluded with a reminder to the audience that collaboration between project teams and stakeholders continues to be paramount to deliver attractive housing solutions to tenants that also meet the demand of the area—and the longevity of student populations.
Addressing the Housing Crisis
After a packed networking break, where attendees had access to an exhibit space to meet with Bisnow sponsors—including Gensler, Sundt, Studio E Architects, Elen Consulting, CGS3 Law, McCarthy, Michael Baker International, McCullough Landscape Architects, Fenagh Engineering and Testing, and KTGY—the second session kicked off with moderator David McCullough, principal at McCollough Landscape Architecture.
The panel, “Accommodating the Growing Student Body Throughout San Diego,” included Bob Schulz, university architect and associate vice president of real estate, San Diego State University; Abbie Hawkins, vice president of development, The Michaels Organization; Rudy Medina, founder and development director, Next Space Development; Richard King, principal, Gensler; and David Senden, principal, KTGY.
A key theme of the discussion was reframing the dire lack of student house as a true “housing crisis” and not just a student housing crisis. Many panelists agreed that finding solutions has shifted to not just looking at on-campus housing for students, but to considering entire geographic areas that are facing housing shortages. This includes how to deliver cost-effective solutions both on and off campus and desiging for the lifestyles of current students and younger generations.
One of the guiding themes was an understanding that this generation of students is different than those previous. Many college students are staying in “student housing” beyond graduation, which is changing the approach to housing design.
“What we are seeing in San Diego, which is unique to this area, is that there’s jobs and opportunity, but it’s expensive,” said King. “For example, San Marcos (where Cal State San Marcos is located) has tripled its population in the last five years. The enrollment rates [at Cal State San Marcos] are continuing to grow and the students that are going to these schools are staying in these communities after graduation and working, which is great to have that talent contributing to the economy here.”
To accommodate current and former students throughout their milestones, designers are providing high-end aesthetics and amenities.
Delivering a student housing unit or community is so rewarding—when it eventually comes online, according to Medina, Hawkins and Senden. The three panelists spoke on the building permit process and how local government can ease the housing strain by loosening certain parameters and helping to expedite processes.
“The challenges for housing—both off-campus and on-campus housing have the same challenges—is that people don’t want students as their neighbors, it’s difficult to secure funding and wait times for permits can be up to three years. So, it’s really hard to get these projects done,” said Medina.
Hawkins also reminded the audience of SB169, which was part of the 2021-22 California State Budget and established a program of one-time grants for the construction of student housing as well as 50% of funding for housing for California Community Colleges. While only 12 community colleges in the state currently have on-campus student housing, there is much more of an untapped market to explore and develop if ongoing funding allows, according to Hawkins.
The event concluded by leaders signaling that the student housing market is certainly a robust area of higher education construction, and with an emphasis on creating long-lasting structures to serve the community for tenants beyond their studies, new approaches and ways to deliver buildings efficiently continues to be a hot topic for facility directors and the design and construction community.
Upcoming Bisnow Events
Other in-person southern California Bisnow events include the on Feb. 25, the on March 13 and the on April 10.
Other national student housing events include the in-person on April 30 as well as the in-person on June 18.
For more information on the Bisnow San Diego Student Housing Summit, or to get involved in future events, please contact Samantha D’Angelo, senior event producer, at samantha.dangelo@bisnow.com.