UC Hastings Mixed-Use Complex to be an Innovation Hub

SAN FRANCISCO—A $282 million mixed-use complex is underway that will provide essential student housing including academic, community and retail space on the UC Hastings campus. Slated for occupancy in June 2023, the building will provide housing for some 670 professional and graduate students from UC Hastings Law, UC San Francisco, and other public and private not-for-profit higher education institutions.

“Great law schools contribute positively to the environment and communities surrounding them,” says David Faigman, chancellor and dean at UC Hastings. “We are excited to be moving forward with Greystar to further develop our vibrant academic village in the heart of San Francisco, a hub of innovation comingling professional and graduate students in law, medicine and business.”

The 14-story building at 198 McAllister St. will include a mix of residential units with 667 beds; 50,000 square feet of collegiate office and academic space including classrooms, an auditorium, and trial and appellate courtrooms; and 8,000 square feet of retail. The total square footage is 356,000.

The residential units, available in efficiency, studio, one- and two-bedroom configurations, were conceived by Greystar and designed by Perkins & Will to reflect an urban lifestyle geared toward the San Francisco setting. Residential amenities include a fitness center, shared study rooms, community kitchens and social lounges.

UC Hastings, Greystar and underwriter Raymond James were able to orchestrate the sale of tax-exempt project-revenue bonds to fund the project. Under the tax-exempt bond structure, which Greystar has utilized to finance and deliver more than $2 billion in on-campus housing, the project will be owned by a nonprofit entity. UC Hastings will lease the academic and office spaces, and all excess project revenue from ground lease payments will flow to UC Hastings and other participating institutions.

While Greystar operates in 200 markets globally, execution of this project will be managed by its regional office in San Francisco, which covers Northern California and the Pacific Northwest markets. Including the UC Hastings project, Greystar has six on-campus community projects poised to deliver in the next three years.

Together, the projects will provide Greystar’s higher education partners with more than 4,750 beds and nearly $830 million in new development. Greystar’s Northern California regional office has more than $1 billion of projects currently in development.

The partnership with UC Hastings adds to Greystar University Partnerships’ growing footprint in California and is part of a global development pipeline of more than $9.2 billion in collegiate and conventional housing.

Mike McCone, Greystar senior director of development, recently shared some insights into how this project dovetails into the development of an academic village, how it is important for the entire community, its design goals, the partnership between Greystar and UC Hastings, and who will benefit from the housing component.

GlobeSt.com: Why do you believe the project is important not just for the UC Hastings community but the wider San Francisco community? How will this aspect of the project fit in with the other phases of UC Hastings’ plans for an academic village?

McCone: In a notably high cost-of-living market, our UC Hastings project is set to deliver a crucial collection of more affordable housing for San Francisco and Bay Area-based students both within the UC system. Most notably, UCSF earmarked 35% of the units at 198 McAlister, and for graduate students from private not-for-profit institutions of higher education such as UOP’s Dugoni School of Dentistry. Through our public-private partnership with UC Hastings, Greystar will deliver over 900 units of on-campus housing to the undeserved student housing market with 198 McAllister and 100 McAllister.

The 198 McAllister St. project represents Phase 2 of UC Hastings’ multi-institutional academic village on its two-block campus in the heart of San Francisco, preceded by the Phase 1 completion of an academic building, the six-story Cotchett Law Center at 333 Golden Gate Ave. in March of 2020, which Greystar was not involved in, and followed by the Phase 3 renovation of UC Hastings’ iconic 28-story tower at 100 McAllister St. slated for 2023 to 2025, on which Greystar will also partner with UCH.

GlobeSt.com: Looking at the building from an architectural standpoint, what were the main design goals of the project? How did these goals drive the design process?

McCone: 198 McAllister is on a prominent corner at the historically and architecturally rich nexus of San Francisco’s Civic Center, Mid-Market and Tenderloin neighborhoods. With its striking facade, the new building will convey a powerfully modern aesthetic in sync with its significant neighbors. From an experiential standpoint, the mixed-use complex is designed to enable residents and other community members to connect across institutional lines. For example, law students at UC Hastings, medical students from UC San Francisco and business analytics students from UC Davis will share space in ways that foster common ground for study and exploration.

Transparency was a major driver in the design process, symbolizing UC Hasting’s openness to and deep-rooted involvement in the community. The ground-level facade of the building features sweeping windows that create a shared experience for people inside and outside the building.

GlobeSt.com: What is your favorite feature of the project and why?

McCone: While it’s challenging to identify just one feature of such an exciting project, my favorite architectural feature is the LexLab (an accelerator for legal tech startups) that is housed in jewel-box setting that cantilevers into the main lobby. However, my favorite place just to hang out will be the 7th floor deck outside the student lounge that, emblematic of this vibrant multi-disciplinary academic village, will look southwest toward the Civic Center, City Hall and the neighborhoods beyond.

GlobeSt.com: How did the partnership between Greystar and UC Hastings come about?

McCone: Our partnership started during the project’s request-for-proposal period. UC Hastings’ campus goals plus the specific projects and individuals involved piqued our interest immediately. Jared Everett, managing director of university partnerships in the West, sourced the opportunity and assembled the winning team. Ultimately Greystar was selected as master developer for 198 McAllister and the for the next phase in UC Hastings’ academic village project: renovation of 100 McAllister, the iconic 28-story tower that currently houses all UC Hastings students living on campus.

GlobeSt.com: Will the housing component be exclusive to UC Hastings students or will non-students be allowed to live onsite?

McCone: 198 McAllister will provide housing for professional and graduate students from UC Hastings Law, UC San Francisco, and other public and private not-for-profit institutions of higher education. A secondary priority, space permitting, is to provide affordable housing for faculty and staff of these institutions.