Frequently Asked Questions
Please check back for updates to this page - last updated on August 13, 2009
Overview
What is the basic concept of the project?
The University of California, Davis, is working with a private developer to build the first phase of a mixed-use community to provide affordable ownership housing opportunities for faculty and staff and additional housing for students. Called West Village, the two-phased plan encompasses about 205 acres of university-owned land.
Planners estimate that West Village ultimately will be home to about 4,350 people -- including 500 faculty and staff members and their families, plus 3,000 students.
Three main principles are guiding the project: housing affordability, environmental responsiveness and quality of place.
The plan for Phase 1 of West Village calls for up to 343 homes for faculty and staff and apartment-style housing for about 2,000 students. The project is oriented around a Village Square anchored by retail shops that will serve as the heart of the community.
The plan also creates a site for the Davis Center of the Los Rios Community College District and a site for a future small day care or preschool facility. The plan includes a generous network of connected open spaces with bicycle and pedestrian paths.
Why is the project important?
West Village is designed to contribute to the vitality of the university and the Davis communities by enabling campus affiliates to live locally and participate fully in the life of the campus and community.
With prices planned to be less than comparable homes in the city of Davis, the West Village homes are seen as a major tool for recruiting and retaining top faculty and staff. Already, more than 1,500 people have expressed interest in purchasing a home.
The partnership forged between the Los Rios Community College District and UC Davis creates new opportunities that will benefit the students at both institutions.
The project will offer high-quality and sustainable environmental design and alternative modes of transit that will reduce regional traffic on roads and highways. West Village will be a model for sustainable environmental design:
- Residents will bike and ride the bus to campus;
- The layout of the community takes advantage of the sun and cooling summer breezes;
- Landscaping is integrated with storm-water systems to cleanse run-off and create habitat areas; and
- On-site generation of renewable electric power and incorporation of energy efficient building measures push the envelope in the areas of energy and environmental design.
The Collaboration
The development and implementation of the West Village Phase 1 is a collaboration between the university and a private developer.
Who is the developer?
The private developer for Phase 1 is West Village Community Partnership LLC (WVCP). WVCP is a joint venture of Carmel Partners of San Francisco and Urban Villages-Davis, based in Denver.
Carmel Partners is a national, full-service real estate company with integrated in-house construction, development and property management services.
Urban Villages is a real estate and investment company committed to industry-leading sustainable and responsible development. The partnership has extensive experience in real estate development including similar mixed-use communities.
How will the business deal with the university work?
The campus retains ownership of the land, and it has entered into a ground lease with WVCP, which will design, finance and construct the on-site infrastructure. The ground lease covers the development and sales of the homes and development and management of the rental housing and retail.
How is the project being financed?
The private developer is responsible for the on-site improvements for Phase 1 of West Village. The university is investing about $14.5 million in roadways and utility infrastructure to connect West Village to campus systems. Future residents will repay this investment over time through utility services payments.
What kind of experience does UC Davis have with such residential projects?
In the 1990s, the campus teamed with Pyramid Construction to build Aggie Village, which includes 21 single-family homes and 16 townhouses on 3.3 acres near the Davis campus and the downtown. It also teamed with Tandem Properties to develop The Colleges at LaRue student housing project on the Davis campus.
Project Status and Timing
What is Phase 1?
Phase 1 of West Village will be built on approximately 130 acres of land located just west of Highway 113 and south of Russell Boulevard. Phase 1 will include:
- about 2,000 student housing beds;
- up to 343 single family residences;
- up to 45,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space around the Village Square; and
- the Davis Center of the Los Rios Community College District.
What is the current status of the project?
WVCP is breaking ground in August 2009 on the on-site infrastructure, which includes underground utilities, streets, streetlights and sidewalks. WVCP plans to start construction on the Village Square and the first student housing apartments in spring 2010 to enable occupancy for fall quarter 2011.
What is the status of approvals?
The university's Board of Regents approved the project in November 2006 and the ground lease was completed in August 2008.
Features
What will be some of the main features of the development?
Many of the faculty and staff homes will be offered with small cottages, similar to the 37-unit Aggie Village next to campus. These cottages increase population density and provide more student housing options.
The West Village plan also includes up to 45,000 square feet of commercial space, the Davis Center for the Low Rios Community College District and a site for a facility for the Davis Joint Unified School District. Within the faculty-staff housing area, the plan also includes a site for what may be a future child care facility.
The plan calls for bike trails within the community, as well as bike trail connections to the campus and frequent UNITRANS bus service.
What will West Village do to reduce energy demand?
The West Village project will incorporate advanced technologies and architectural elements that will create a highly energy efficient community. Architectural elements -- such as roof overhangs, windows and extensive use of sunshades over windows -- are designed to respond to the specific solar exposure of each building in the community. Every home and apartment in the community will be built with energy-conserving building components, including solar reflective roof materials, radiant barrier roof sheathing, high-efficacy light fixtures, thick 2-by-6 exterior walls for added insulation, and high-efficiency air conditioning systems, to name a few.
What does it mean for West Village to be a "zero net energy" community?
One of the goals of the West Village project is to be "zero net energy." This means to combine affordable energy efficiency measures with sufficient renewable electricity generated on-site to meet the community building energy requirements on an annual basis.
What is the RESCO Grant from the California Energy Commission?
The California Energy Commission has awarded nearly $2 million to UC Davis under its Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) Program for Renewable-Based Energy Secure Communities (RESCO). The award will fund analysis and design to minimize energy use by facilities in West Village and to balance this with renewable power generated on site. Technologies that will be evaluated include:
- energy-efficiency measures in building design (passive and active)
- demand response
- distributed solar photovoltaic to create electricity from the sun
- distributed solar thermal on homes to pre-heat water
- biogas coupled with fuel cell to generate electricity
- advanced energy storage using modern battery techniques
- smartgrid technology to efficiently manage energy supplies
For Prospective Residents
How will the affordability of the homes be maintained?
To maintain affordability over time, the resale price of most homes is tied to the faculty salary index or cost-of-living index, whichever is greater. In this manner, future housing prices will more closely match the ability of future generations of faculty and staff to pay, rather than fluctuate with the local housing market.
When will the homes be finished?
Model homes are anticipated to be ready in late 2011, with the first homes available for purchase in spring 2012.
How much will the homes cost?
West Village plans to provide a range of housing opportunities starting around $400,000 for smaller units and increasing from there depending on unit size and amenities. Sizing and pricing will be determined at the time of sale.
How is the policy being set for residency?
The campus will formally adopt the faculty-staff housing policies regarding West Village home ownership closer to the time the first homes will be offered for sale. A committee of faculty, staff and administrators developed the proposed policies. Before the draft policy is formally adopted, there will be another opportunity for comment.
Who will be able to purchase a home in the West Village?
Ownership is intended for full-time employees on the Davis or Sacramento campuses. There are four eligible pools of prospective buyers:
- Aggie Pool - Ladder-rank faculty members who have been recently recruited and staff members who have been recently recruited through national searches. This pool includes employees who own homes in Aggie Village, a 37-home project built in 1997. Aggie Pool allocation at West Village: 156 to 172 (50 percent of the total).
- Mustang Pool - All other faculty and staff. Allocation: 87 to 96 (28 percent).
- Blue and Gold Pool - All faculty and staff with the lowest incomes. Allocation: 69 to 75 (22 percent).
- University employees who already own homes within the Davis Joint Unified School District - This pool has no allocation of homes. The university would select from this pool only if there are any homes left after people in the first three pools are given chances to buy.
How will the campus decide who gets to buy a home?
A lottery system will be used to allocate houses within each of the four pools. The lottery list will become the waiting list for each pool.
How do I get more information?
The UC Davis Real Estate Services office has been collecting contact information from faculty and staff members interested in West Village. Interested individuals can sign up on the West Village Web site to receive news and information about faculty and staff housing in the West Village development.
How do I get on the waiting list?
There is no waiting list for the West Village. At a later time, the planning committee will address the question of how the homes will be made available to faculty and staff members. The UC Davis Real Estate Services office has been collecting contact information from faculty and staff members interested in the West Village. This information will be used to forward news and information about faculty and staff housing in the West Village development, as it becomes available.
If you would like to be included in this database and receive periodic e-mail updates about these UC Davis housing communities, please send an e-mail with the information listed below to: westvillage@ucdavis.edu
- your name
- whether you are faculty or staff
- whether you are a member of the Academic Senate, the Academic Federation or neither
- your department of office
- your email and/or phone number
- your effective start date