SAN FRANCISCO, CA — San Francisco State University recently held a ceremony to celebrate the start of construction for the West Campus Green (WCG) project. The project includes a first-year residence hall that will add 750 affordable beds, a dining facility, and a student health center. San Francisco State hired design-build team McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. and EHDD Architecture to deliver the project.

The WCG project includes two all-electric buildings adjacent to each other. The first is a 120,000-square-foot, six-story first-year residence hall slated for occupancy by fall 2024. The second is a three-story, 50,000-square-foot building, to open in winter 2024, that will include a dining common area and the Gator Health Center. Other project highlights:

• The residence hall will support all aspects of universal design to ensure equity and access to all students. It will be developed using a “pod” concept approach, averaging 12 rooms each, with three students in each room. Each pod will have shared bathroom facilities and study lounges.
• The Gator Health Center will house different units on campus including Student Health Services; Counseling and Psychological Services; and Health Promotion and Wellness. Collectively, these units provide a range of services such as triaging and health assessments, examination and treatment rooms, mental health support, and spaces for administrative and medical staff to provide care.
• The dining facility will frame a courtyard, which will host more intimate pockets for socializing, relaxation, and reconnection to nature.

WCG will cost a total of $179 million. It is supported by $116 million in funds from the State of California's Higher Education Student Housing Grant Program, which was established to increase affordable student housing across the state's three public higher education systems.

Designed by global design firm EHDD Architecture, the WCG project will be delivered under a progressive design-build model led by the national construction company McCarthy Building Companies, Inc.’s San Francisco office.

“We are thrilled to collaborate with San Francisco State University to create a new center of gravity for their campus,” said Jack Carter, Vice President at McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. “The new project will be an integral anchor to the Western neighborhood and will act as a connection point for existing and future housing in the area."

“As we developed this project our biggest goal was to foster a vibrant community,” said Lynne Riesselman, Project Design Lead and Principal at EHDD, “making sure incoming students have every chance to build connections and that in their first home away from home they find a place of belonging.”