Dorothy Leland: UC Merced’s 2020 expansion is getting started

Ever since UC Merced opened our doors in 2005 as the first University of California campus in the San Joaquin Valley, we’ve felt a special kinship with the community that welcomed us.

In a region wracked by chronic poverty, high levels of unemployment and low levels of educational attainment, we strongly believed we could become a significant force for beneficial change over time. Our mission was, and is, very clear: to bring a major new dimension of educational and economic opportunity to one of the fastest-growing parts of the state – a region California can no longer afford to leave behind.

Today, we have a vibrant campus of nearly 6,700 students, some 1,500 permanent employees and roughly 5,000 proud Bobcat alumni. We have created thousands of jobs and directly invested nearly $1.3 billion in the regional economy. Most importantly, we’ve seen an enthusiastic response from the young men and women of the region who are now applying to the UC system at more than double the rate of just 10 years ago.

None of these gains would mean much in the long run if we could not continue to grow and invest in the region’s future – a path that has been in question for much of our existence. As I’ve reported in this newspaper and other places for nearly three years, the recent statewide recession and resulting cutbacks to higher education funding have forced us to explore alternative means to fund our growth in the absence of traditional state investment.

Thankfully, our determination to solve this dilemma has been rewarded, just as the campus is running out of space.

Last month, the UC Board of Regents unanimously approved our innovative proposal to double the size of our campus by 2020. While additional board approvals will be needed before construction can begin, the regents’ decision to greenlight the project – known as the “2020 Project” – reflects a strong endorsement of our mission here and the prospects they see for much greater contribution to the region and state well into the future.

It also clears the way for us to expand enrollment to 10,000 students within the next five to seven years.

The development model we’re using is a form of public-private partnership that will tap private resources to supplement available UC and state funding.

While other UC campuses have made limited use of the public-private partnership model in the past, UC Merced will be the first UC campus to employ a single private development team to design, build, finance, operate and maintain a project of this scope. This approach will save as much as four years in construction time compared with traditional development techniques and yield significant savings through economies of scale and long-term performance guarantees required of the developer.

Our plans call for release of the project’s request for proposals to three prequalified teams before the end of this calendar year. Each team will submit conceptual plans for constructing more than 900,000 assignable square feet of academic, residential, recreational and student-life facilities in a master-planned community adjacent to the existing campus. A rigorous scoring process will be employed to select the proposal that best meets the university’s financial, technical and aesthetic criteria.

The project is expected to create 10,800 construction jobs locally and inject another $1.9 billion into the regional economy ($2.4 billion statewide). We are confident that all three development teams have the talent to produce creative, efficient solutions that will blend well with existing structures and reinforce our firm commitment to sustainable development. The first buildings are scheduled for delivery in 2018, with the balance due by 2020.

We will continue to keep the community updated as the 2020 Project nears its official launch date and thank you for your continued support.

This story was originally published December 10, 2015 at 1:48 PM with the headline "Dorothy Leland: UC Merced’s 2020 expansion is getting started."