UCLA Acquires Former Marymount Campus for $80M

California’s universities continue to expand their real estate holdings in the Golden State.

In the latest acquisition, UCLA has expanded its reach from its Westwood base by absorbing a 24.5-acre waterfront campus that used to be the home of Marymount California University.

The $80M deal for the campus, located at 30800 Palos Verdes Drive East in Rancho Palos Verdes, includes an 11-acre residential complex encompassing 81 townhomes on South Antietam Street in nearby San Pedro.

UCLA will use general revenue bonds to pay for the properties as part of an expansion strategy focused on creating satellite campuses that can support 3,350 undergraduate and graduate students by 2030.

Marymount, a Catholic college at the southern border of Los Angeles, announced in April that it is closing; in June, the college listed its main campus and the residential parcel.

UCLA’s 419-acre Westwood campus in the statewide University of California system. The Westwood campus has no land to expand, and it’s literally bursting at the seams: a record number of students—140,000—applied last fall for 6,600 open slots in the spring semester.

UCLA Chancellor Gene Block told the LA Times that the acquisition in Rancho Palos Verdes will house up to 1,000 students, half of which will use the 81 townhomes as dormitories.

“We realize there has been frustration by the number of young people that want to attend our research universities, and this is, in a significant way, our response to that need,” Block said.

According the Times report, the Marymount’s scenic location in proximity to Catalina Island, attracted more than 40 formal bids for the campus. Seven finalists for the property included four developers and three educational institutions.

In the same week the Marymount acquisition was announced, Golden Gate University (GGU) listed for sale its main campus at 536 Mission Street and a nearby building at 40 Jesse Street, properties that encompass 260K SF in San Francisco’s Financial District.

The non-profit university told the San Francisco Business Times that it intends to remain in San Francisco but plans to downsize its real estate footprint as part of a shift to hybrid and remote learning.

GGU, which has been in San Francisco for nearly 170 years, has occupied its 210K SF main campus on Mission Street since 1964. The university acquired the 50K SF Jesse St. building in the 1990s.