From Associate Vice Chancellor, Willie Brown, to the UC Santa Barbara Campus Community.
Beginning in the fall of 2023, Housing, Dining & Auxiliary Enterprises, alongside campus stakeholders, embarked on the planning for a two-phase student housing development that will provide 3,500 new undergraduate student beds on the UC Santa Barbara main campus. These development projects, informed by the 2010 Long Range Development Plan, will address the campus’s critical housing needs and create a vibrant, inclusive, and safe community for students to call home for years to come. I am excited to share an important milestone regarding the first phase of these development projects, San Benito.
On April 10, the California Coastal Commission approved the Notice of Impending Development for the San Benito project after the UC Regents approval in January 2025. Webcor Builders, our Construction Manager-At-Risk (CMAR) and general contractor for the overall project, will oversee the construction of seven new residential buildings at the intersection of Mesa and Stadium Roads to deliver 2,224 new beds by Fall 2027.
During the remainder of Spring Quarter 2025, construction activities will ramp up on the San Benito site, starting with utility relocations, site clearance, and demolition of the existing hardscape. As construction progresses, we will share quarterly updates on this website, and community members are encouraged to reach out to housing-studentdevelopment@ucsb.edu with any concerns or comments.
We acknowledge that the construction work and reduction in parking requires changes to how the campus community accesses San Clemente Villages and the recreational and athletic facilities off of Stadium Road. We apologize for this inconvenience, and we appreciate your patience and understanding as we adapt to these reconfigurations. Thank you for your support as we work toward the successful completion of the exciting new San Benito residential community!