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BUSINESS NEWS UC SANTA CRUZ STUDENT HOUSING WEST TO EASE HOUSING CRUNCH The University of California Board of Regents approved critical new student housing projects at the UC Santa Cruz campus. The project, Student Housing West, is being led by national developer Capstone Development Partners, and will create more than 3,000 new student beds on campus at two sites: the Hagar Site, located near the southeast corner of the main campus and the Heller Site, located on the western side of the main campus near the Heller Drive entry gate. The project will also include a new Early Education Center serving 140 children of UCSC’s students, faculty, and staff. Lead architect, HED , is responsible for the design of approximately 800,000 square feet of undergraduate student housing across five buildings at the Heller Site, along with a community plaza hub that includes cafe, market, and wellness amenities. HED is working with design-build contractor, DPR Construction. Walker Macy is serving as the project’s lead campus planner and landscape architect for both sites. Additional design architects include Mithun and Katerra for the Graduate Student Housing building at the Heller Site. TheHagar Site design team includes Katerra for Family Student Housing and the Community Building, and SABArchitects for the Early Education Center with design-build contractor, Swinerton . Overall project cost is estimated at $713 million. The Graduate Student Housing and Undergraduate Student Housing are a blend
of apartment-style units and co-living models with shared common areas and kitchens. These were designed to achieve affordable rental rates – a key concern among students surveyed – and panelized components are expected to be fabricated off site and assembled on site. “Every decision on this project is focused on quality of life outcomes for the students. Each design solution enhances and supports the unique qualities of UC Santa Cruz,” said development leader and Capstone Senior Vice President Chad Izmirian. Santa Cruz’s unique coastal geography demands a highly sensitive focus on the preservation of its natural resources and the development’s design has required an intimate understanding of the geological and environmental factors of the site. The Heller site contains an improved habitat on the site to ensure safe migration of the California Red- Legged Frog (intended to support species recovery). The campus’s published final environmental impact report was certified by the UC Regents this spring. Both project sites are being designed to achieve a high level of sustainability, including focused efforts to decrease use of non-potable water (through a dedicated wastewater treatment plant on each site) and decrease the generation of carbon and waste. In addition, the development team is striving to achieve LEED Platinum certification for both sites and is engaged in an innovative partnership with Puttman Infrastructure.
HED Principal Gene McDonald, AIA, is proud to celebrate this project’s advancement. “We expect that this significant public private partnership project will set a new standard for the design of affordable and sustainable student housing,” he says, “and have a dramatic impact for a housing-hungry campus and region.” UC Santa Cruz currently provides on-campus housing for approximately 9,300 students, about half of its student population. However, there is a still a pressing need for affordable campus housing, especially for upper-division students who otherwise live in the surrounding community. Student Housing West is the single largest housing project underway in Santa Cruz County. According to UC Santa Cruz Chancellor George Blumenthal, “Student Housing West is a bold attempt to help our current students, too many of whom are struggling to get by in this overheated housing market. I believe the end result is an economically prudent project that will maintain housing affordability for all students, mitigate environmental impacts to the extent they can be lessened, and minimize the displacement of students with families while construction is underway.” HED seeks creative solutions that have a positive impact for its clients, the community, and the world. Since its founding in 1908, HED has earned a reputation for excellence in all facets of the designed and built environment, including architecture, consulting, engineering, and planning services.
MEGAN SCHWARTZ, from page 9
next key client. We need to be taking calculated risks and putting out new proposals, even while diligently delivering on the work-in-hand. Like every great soccer player, our heads need to be on a constant swivel not only defending our position in the marketplace where we already stand, but being able to read the game and plan our attack so we know precisely what we are going to do with the ball (i.e., that great opportunity) when we get it. We need to be diligent in our quality control and project tracking. We shouldn’t settle for staff who put in the hours but deliver mediocre work. We need to always be at least one step and one goal ahead of our opponents, by not letting up on our regular contact with key clients, delivering high-quality work on-time and within budget, and effectively providing value and solutions to our clients. It’s when companies settle into their heels rather than staying on their toes and start delivering so-so reports, average proposals, or client managers start thinking “I’m too busy, I’ll just call her or him tomorrow,” that suddenly there’s an upset and that contract you thought was in the bag is handed to your number one opponent. It’s game on and we must stay focused and keep our eyes on the prize! MEGAN SCHWARTZ is CFO and director of environmental regulatory compliance and permitting at Catalyst Environmental Solutions. She can be reached at mschwartz@ce.solutions.
together their strategies to take over those clients and win those projects away from us. They are hiring key staff with the specific skillsets and experience to break into a marketplace we thought we had locked up. “We are playing a game of inches, where seemingly little things can count big. As business owners, we need to come to work each day ready to play our best and motivate our staff to do the same.” As a small business, we can be especially vulnerable to larger companies thinking they can sweep in, dominate the ball, and start scoring goals against us and winning favor with our clients. We are playing a game of inches, where seemingly little things can count big. As business owners, we need to come to work each day ready to play our best and motivate our staff to do the same. Perhaps most importantly, we need to always be on the offensive, working at the management level and filtering down to the staff level, to build a strategy for not only keeping our best clients, but identifying the next big market and
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THE ZWEIG LETTER September 23, 2019, ISSUE 1313
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