November 5, 2021
The following construction notice was mailed to neighbors of the project site and adjacent property owners.
Dear Neighbor,
UC Berkeley is taking a significant step forward in addressing the urgent need for additional student housing. Anchor House is a transformative new housing project with apartments for more than 770 students. The project will be built on a university-owned site one block from the Berkeley campus that is bounded by University Avenue, Oxford Street, Walnut Street, and Berkeley Way. The design and construction of Anchor House are being paid for in full by a philanthropic foundation, and once the building is open, the net operating revenues it generates will go toward providing annual scholarships for students from underrepresented populations and first-generation college students. Anchor House will be UC Berkeley's first donor-funded student housing since 1942.
The Anchor House project also represents substantial progress toward improving the transfer student experience. This will be the first UC Berkeley campus housing project dedicated to transfer students. Transfer students represent 20% of our undergraduates and more than 95% come from California Community Colleges. Transfer students tend to come from more economically disadvantaged families, compared to the general student population, and often face challenges connecting to, and becoming a part of, the campus community.
I invite you to learn more about the vision and design of Anchor House via the project website: https://capitalstrategies.berkeley.edu/anchor-house
This letter is to inform neighbors of the project site and adjacent property owners that the construction will begin in November 2021. Our goal is to complete construction in order to move the first resident students into Anchor House for the fall semester 2024.
Before construction begins, I would like to share with you some pertinent information:
- This project is under the jurisdiction of the University of California in its capacity as a state agency. While this is not a City of Berkeley project, the University voluntarily follows the same standard construction work/noise hours as projects in the City of Berkeley:
- 7 a.m. - 7 p.m., Monday through Friday
- 9 a.m. - 8 p.m., Weekends and Legal Holidays
- If the city, county, or other agency, requires work/noise to be performed outside of these hours, such as moving a piece of large equipment off-hours to not disrupt daytime traffic, advance notice will be given on the Anchor House project website. The university does everything possible to abide by the standard Berkeley construction work/noise hours unless required to do otherwise.
- Anchor House is designed without piles in its foundation, so there will be no pile driving operations.
- Construction of Anchor house will follow strict environmental protocols, including site inspections and air sample collections.
- Any issues or concerns during construction can be directed to UC Berkeley Capital Strategies by email, capitalstrategies@berkeley.edu, or by phone, 510-495-5786.
Future construction updates will be shared via the Anchor House project website: https://capitalstrategies.berkeley.edu/anchor-house
I thank you in advance for your patience and understanding during construction. Anchor House will be a substantial benefit to the campus, the City of Berkeley, and the region as a whole: when completed, more than 770 students will no longer need to compete for and create price pressure on the city’s limited housing inventory.
Sincerely,
Kyle Gibson
Director of Communications
Capital Strategies