LA JOLLA – The University of California San Diego has expanded its reach – across the street from its main campus.
The university opened on July 24 its public-private partnership development named the “8980 Building” located at 8980 Villa La Jolla Drive, at the corner of Villa La Jolla Drive and La Jolla Village Drive.
The nine-story concrete and glass building has been in plans for six years. Los Angeles-based real estate developer GPI Companies recently completed the build of the approximately $100 million, 114,000-square foot project.
The 8980 Building is part of The La Jolla Wellness Center, which also includes other buildings already on site at 8910 Villa La Jolla and 8950 Villa La Jolla. The entire project is spread across nearly seven acres.
Designed by Gensler San Diego, GPI first broke ground on 8980 in October 2021.
The new building has five stories of occupied space that is housing several programs from UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies and UC San Diego Health Sciences. Bird Rock Coffee Roasters is also leasing part of the building, in the southeast corner.
The 8980 Building has approximately 112,000 square feet of office and educational space, and about 275 parking spaces.
“It is a perfect example of GPI’s multifaceted development capability and demonstrates our commitment to excellence in design, our ability to effectively participate in public/private partnerships, and our intimate knowledge of the market,” said GPI Companies Director AJ Taylor.
Todd Miller, director of asset management and community partnerships at UC San Diego said the development is one of the first “P3” projects the university has successfully completed.
“UC San Diego is technically a tenant in the GPI building on land it owns,” Miller said.
The way that it works, Miller said, is the Regents of the University of California purchased the land on which the building stands and then is doing a long-term ground lease back to the developer. JLL is the property manager, he said.
Across the street from UC San Diego’s main campus, the cutting-edge building features classrooms, training spaces and key administrative offices for Extended Studies and will act as a hub of research for Health Sciences, benefiting from its proximity to campus and the VA Medical Center.
The 8980 Building will also feature others in the Extended Studies portfolio: International Programs, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and Student Services, and will be the home for UCTV’s new modern studio facilities.
“We’re excited to be in a brand-new building, closing out this P3 project with a third-party developer,” Miller said. “This is a good success story. And UC San Diego is going to be developing more of these projects on and off campus.”
Some Tenants Already Moved In
The building had a ribbon cutting on July 24, but Hugo Villar, Dean of Extended Studies at UC San Diego, and other campus leaders moved into the site earlier this summer. Villar moving from a dated location on North Torrey Pines Road.
“For us the opportunity was tremendous,” said Villar, who has been with UC San Diego for 16 years. “It’s something that we have been planning for quite some time, really for over a decade or so. I saw it from the beginning. Since I’ve been atUC San Diego, there has always been a plan to try to improve those facilities that we had at North Torrey Pines.
“Then the opportunity came for this private-public partnership, to allow us to build a custom facility that would enable us to deliver the kind of services that we wanted, and also to hold the administrative offices for the division.”
John M. Carethers, Vice Chancellor at UC San Diego Health Sciences, said the new building will provide additional space for UC San Diego to conduct important research studies related to mental and behavioral health.
“Bringing these research programs together into one synergized space will create economic efficiencies and new opportunities for scientific collaboration. It will also provide a modern and innovative environment for our employees and research participants,” Carethers said.
Coffee, Pizza at UCSD
The newest site for Bird Rock Coffee Roasters, the 8980 Building was brought to the business’s president Jeff Taylor by its real estate agency that keeps an eye open for new locations.
Bird Rock Coffee Roasters operates in 10 other spots around the county, most along the coast, and one near to the site at 9500 Gilman Drive as well as another in La Jolla at 5627 La Jolla Boulevard.
“This location had a lot of the qualities we look for in a location,” Taylor said. “So we felt it was a good fit for our expansion. We are only expanding on a limited basis and when locations are a good fit and timing is right for us. We hope to expand our brand into the UCSD community.”
ll Bird Rock Coffee Roasters stores are performing well and are growing same-store sales, year-over-year, by between 10% to 15% on a monthly basis, Taylor said.
The new site near UC San Diego will offer its popular coffee beverages, but will also add a woodfired pizza element to this location and plan to sell made-to-order 12-inch pizzas.
“This is really a heavy focus on our already established demographic,” Taylor said. “We are just making ourselves more convenient to customers in this neighborhood and offering pizza as a lunch/dinner option.”