Vanderbilt University buys old CCA campus in Rockridge 

The four-acre wooded Rockridge property that housed the California Faculty of the Arts for greater than a century has modified arms, elevating questions in regards to the viability of a stalled housing venture there.

Vanderbilt College in Nashville introduced this this week purchase of the CCA campus in San Francisco and plans to launch a brand new tutorial program there. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday that the true property deal additionally contains the college’s shuttered Oakland campus, positioned on Broadway.

“Vanderbilt has additionally agreed to personal the previous CCA campus in Oakland,” says an FAQ web page the school’s website. “They haven’t recognized any particular plans for the Oakland campus.”

Vanderbilt didn’t reply to questions in regards to the Oakland property and its future.

For almost a decade, a proposed housing venture on the Rockridge campus has been the epitome of fierce debate over the event and preservation of the North Oakland neighborhood.

CCA was chosen in 2017 Builders of equity communities and the Emerald Fund to redevelop the campus after the artwork college determined to consolidate its operations in San Francisco.

Initially, builders proposed a 19-story residential tower with almost 600 models, which confronted vocal opposition from some neighbors, who fashioned a bunch known as Supporters of Upper Broadway. The group criticized many facets of the proposal, together with its scale and lack of inexpensive models.

In response, the builders and designers redesigned the venture, changing the high-rise buildings with smaller buildings, for a complete of 448 residences, which had been 5% or 10% inexpensive. The venture would demolish 10 buildings on campus and protect two historic buildings.

In the meantime, the state of California instructed Oakland to make plans more homes in Rockridgean prosperous neighborhood with robust public transportation, thriving enterprise corridors and a historical past of unique zoning.

Over time, the CCA venture went by way of the town’s approval course of and was accomplished in late 2024. By then, the financial panorama had modified each regionally and nationally, making it harder to finance improvement. Round that point, Emerald Fund chairman Marc Babsin mentioned, told the press that the venture may solely be groundbreaking if the market modified.

Babsin reiterated this to the San Francisco Chronicle this week, saying “the numbers simply do not work.” However he instructed the newspaper he’s “hopeful” that may change.

The builders had an choice settlement with CCA to buy and construct on the property as soon as their plans had been accredited they usually had been prepared to start development. It is unclear whether or not that settlement will stay intact underneath Vanderbilt’s possession. The Emerald Fund didn’t reply to interview requests on Wednesday.

Whereas the way forward for this venture is unclear, one other main housing proposal in earlier phases is shifting a few mile north on Claremont Avenue.