Core Spaces Plans Berkeley's Tallest Building

Core Spaces, the Austin-based developer of student housing, has unveiled its most ambitious project to date: a 26-story tower that will be the tallest building in Berkeley.

The company has filed plans for Hub Berkeley, a 485-unit student housing campus to be located at the intersection of Oxford and Center Streets in Berkeley.

Hub Berkeley will include 13.5K SF of commercial space, with a 4K SF restaurant on its top floor.

Core Spaces is able to exceed Berkeley’s 190-foot height cap on buildings by invoking California’s density bonus law allowing exceptions to zoning restrictions for projects that contain a minimum percentage of affordable housing units. Hub Berkeley will have 47 units designated as affordable.

Core Spaces rapidly is increasing its footprint in SoCal’s high-demand student housing market, filing plans for a 359-unit dormitory at 2601 East Chapman Avenue to serve the campus of Cal State Fullerton.

The project is the third student housing development Core Spaces has initiated in Los Angeles.

The mixed-use Hub Fullerton, to be built on a site currently occupied by a two-story office building, will be a six-story complex housing 1,047 beds. The project will include a rooftop deck, workspaces, fitness areas and a public paseo. Shops and restaurants will take up the ground floor at Hub Fullerton.

According to a report in Urbanize Los Angeles, Core Spaces is aiming to make the building available to smaller colleges in the area, including Hope International University and Pacific Christian College.

The Texas-based developer is nearing completion on two student housing projects that will serve the University of Southern California.

Hub on Campus II, also known as Hub on Campus Los Angeles-Figueroa, will have 157 units and 577 beds.

The seven-story dormitory building at Hub on Campus II, which encompasses 293K SF, is at the intersection of 28^th and Figueroa streets, about a half-mile for the USC campus entrance at Greek Row, within USC’s designated off-campus housing area.

Amenities at the student housing complex include a gym, swimming pool and 115 below-grade parking spaces.

The Hub on Campus II development was financed with a construction loan from Pac West Bank brokered by Phoenix-based TSB Capital Advisors.

Core Spaces partnered with Amplify Development Co. on the Hub on Campus at The Coliseum, a seven-story mixed-use development that includes 79 luxury apartments—the website calls it a “luxury student housing development”—and more than 10K SF of ground floor retail space,

Hub on Campus at The Coliseum is adjacent to the Los Angeles Coliseum, the venue for two Summer Olympics and home of the Rose Bowl.

Core Spaces has developed student housing projects across the US, including Hub-style buildings at Gainesville, serving the University of Florida; in Lexington at the University of Kentucky; in Tucson, near the University of Arizona; in West Lafayette, IN, serving Purdue University; and at Michigan State University’s East Lansing campus.