UC proposes Ocean Road workforce housing pilot at Santa Barbara; Regents endorse solicitation to test a fee‑development model

Regent Cohen opened discussion of a workforce housing pilot at the UC Santa Barbara Ocean Road site and committee members signaled support to proceed to a competitive solicitation.

Office of the President presenters described workforce housing as a recruiting and retention priority for faculty, staff and graduate students and said the campus has struggled to realize such projects under prior commercial financing and construction costs. The proposal before the Regents was an informational item to test a fee‑development contracting mode on Parking Lot 23, a pilot site on the Ocean Road property (the campus cited a 16‑acre overall site and showed the pilot parcel on the slide). The pilot would be able to proceed under the campus’ existing long‑range development plan (LRDP) certified by the Coastal Commission and the parcel is subject to a 60–65 foot height limit under the certified LRDP.

Presenters described the fee‑development contracting mode as a variant of design‑build: the developer is selected through a competitive solicitation and then is responsible for contracting with general contractors, designers and a property manager; a development fee compensates the developer and is only earned if the project is authorized for construction. Presenters said the model could yield cost advantages by leveraging private‑sector market experience and by using UC financing (commercial paper during construction rolled into University financing for long‑term debt) and the property self‑insurance program to reduce operating costs. The campus said the solicitation would include clear feasibility criteria, two formal Regents touches (selection of the developer proposal and a second review prior to authorizing construction) and built‑in off‑ramps at discrete phases with guaranteed maximum prices.

Jake Lavin (Office of the President, Real Estate) presented details and said the pilot could proceed independently of a broader reimagining of the Ocean Road redevelopment, and that the pilot’s results would help inform any larger reimagining. The presenters identified prior infrastructure alignment costs from an earlier iteration of the project that had been budgeted at approximately $30,000,000 and said one of the pilot goals would be to reduce such infrastructure scope through reimagining. The committee did not record a vote on this informational item; presenters said the campus would proceed with a competitive solicitation for the Parking Lot 23 opportunity if Regents had no objections and would return with selected proposals and subsequent requests for construction authorization and financing.