ERA and University Development
Increasingly, educational institutions are driving community development. Motivated by a highly competitive environment for students, faculty, and staff, as well as by the need to find innovative ways of funding new facilities, colleges and universities are seeking creative approaches to development, both on and off-campus. ERA has been working with a number of institutions, host communities, and developers to craft appropriate development strategies for housing, retail, and other facilities.
University of Arizona
ERA has been working on a key parcel in Tucson intended to knit together the main campus of the University of Arizona with its rapidly expanding Health Sciences Campus. The 12-acre parcel, at the prominent corner of Campbell and Speedway, is the site of a mixed-use development program incorporating clinical care space, research labs, academic offices and classrooms, housing, and retail. From an economic perspective, a key challenge is determining the appropriate parking requirements for the various uses and identifying corresponding funding sources. ERA is also advising the private landowner and the university on ways to creatively structure a joint development arrangement.
University of California, Davis
With the City of Davis, California adopting policies inhibiting growth, UC Davis faced an increasing housing shortage. Responding to this shortage that limited the campus’ ability to attract both faculty and students, UC Davis decided to pursue the development of its own neighborhood on campus property. The university retained ERA to analyze the market and financial feasibility of this development designed to house 4,000 to 5,000 students, staff and faculty. ERA also explored issues of “equity cap” and rental unit over the garage on marketability of faculty housing and the impact of higher density on rents and student fees.
Cal State Monterey Bay
ERA has been providing services on a series of assignments for this new university in the California State system, Cal State at Monterey Bay. The most significant of these assignments was the detailed economic impact assessment of the university on Monterey County. These assignments also included on-campus housing demand analysis, on-campus commercial facilities demand analysis, guidelines for third party development, tax revenue estimates of on-campus third party developments, negotiation assistance with a medical clinic and with the Ford Ord Reuse Authority.
University of California, San Diego
The UCSD campus is set in a suburban environment with no retail districts at the campus edge. The university has a tradition of individual colleges, a weak campus core and is experiencing enrollment and staff growth. Confronting the less than adequate retail and food services for students and staff, the university decided to create a Retail Strategy Plan and retained Economics Research Associates to prepare the plan. ERA and UCSD personnel will presenting the creation of this Retail Strategy Plan at the next Society for College and University Planning (SCUP) annual conference in Toronto in July of 2004.
Santa Clara University
Late last year Santa Clara University, the first institution to offer classes in higher learning on the West Coast and now located in the center of Silicon Valley, kicked off its most ambitious fund raising campaign in history, a $350 million campaign to support its strategic plan. The expanded endowment will be used for investment in people and programs, including the construction of a new library, a new business school building, a new athletic center, a new baseball stadium, a Jesuit Community residence and Law School expansion. Since the magnitude of Santa Clara University’s economic contribution is not well known within the community, SCU retain ERA to prepare a quantitative assessment of the campus’ economic contribution to city and county Santa Clara
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