The Dundee Student Housing and Glasgow Dining Project (Dundee-Glasgow Project) and the North District Project are two major new undertakings that UCR is planning in its move to keep up with a rapidly growing student population.
According to UCR Real Estate Services, the North District Project is intended to provide residence hall housing for first year students and apartment housing for second year students, transfer students, upper division undergraduate students and graduate students. The project also intends to supply new dining facilities to serve the increasing student population at UCR. It will also include: multi-functional rooms which their website describes as spaces that can alternate from classroom, meeting space and study areas, student support amenities, a mix of retail services, functional open spaces, adequate utility capacity and supporting infrastructure to support all phases of the project.
In an interview with the Highlander, Andy Plumley, the assistant vice chancellor of auxiliary services, stated that the Dundee-Glasgow project is a pre-phase to the North District Development, being built just south of the North District east of Aberdeen-Inverness Residence Hall.
The first phase of the North District will consist of 1,500 apartment beds. The final build out will have 5,000 to 6,000 beds. According to Plumley, the primary target population for the North District Development Project are continuing students (non-freshmen) and they are also looking into including some graduate student housing.
The Dundee-Glasgow Dining Project is the next phase of this housing expansion. Freshmen are the primary target audience for the Dundee Residence Hall but Plumley stated that they hope to also include some returning students and transfer students. Dundee Residence Hall will provide 820 new beds and is being built between Aberdeen-Inverness and Pentland Hills. Plumley stated that this new residence hall is essential “as our freshmen (sic) class grows.”
UCR Real Estate’s website states that the Dundee-Glasgow Project “will provide much needed residence hall housing which is targeted primarily towards for first year students and the dining will replace the outdated dining facilities at the existing Aberdeen-Inverness residence hall.”
The website also states that the Dundee-Glasgow Project will create a distinctive living-learning, mixed-use community that “intentionally creates a sense of place with new student housing being aligned with appropriate residential life programs that provide a balance of privacy and community to enhance the overall academic experience for UC Riverside students.”
Glasgow Dining will also be located between Aberdeen-Inverness and Pentland Hills. It will be a 830 seat facility and replaces the 500 seat Aberdeen-Inverness Dining facility, which will later be used for residential programs and catering and conference events. Glasgow will feature an exhibition bakery, a demonstration cooking platform and a modern residential dining program. It will be a two-story facility, with a patio terrace and a private dining room. Plumley stated, “this facility will also be home to our catering operation and provide service to our food trucks.”
Dundee Residence Hall consists of two seven-story towers, with each tower featuring a large community living space on the ground floor. This space will provide study, social and computer spaces. “We will have spaces designed to serve as classrooms during the day and program space at night,” stated Plumley. Between the two towers will be an outdoor space for students to socialize. The Dundee Residence Halls will have traditional style corridors with central bathrooms and a lounge. This style provides for better community development and is a more affordable design.
Plumley believes that these new housing projects are important for UCR because they currently experience large waiting lists, so the new beds of Dundee and the North District Phase one are needed now. “The beds beyond these two projects will help us keep pace with the student enrollment growth,” stated Plumley. Dundee-Glasgow costs approximately $150 million while the North District Project will cost approximately $220 million.
Dundee-Glasgow is expected to open in Fall 2020 and the North District Project is expected to be open in Fall 2021.
