UC Riverside celebrated the completion of its North District 2 student housing complex Monday, Sept. 29, with more than 200 guests gathered at a courtyard outside one of the apartment buildings.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony featured about a dozen speakers including UC Riverside Chancellor S. Jack Hu, Riverside Community College District Chancellor Wolde-Ab Isaac, and Janet Reilly, chair of the University of California Board of Regents. Several local and legislative leaders also attended including Riverside Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson and Riverside County Supervisor Jose Medina.
The housing project helps meet UCR’s continued high demand for on-campus student housing with a new approach. In a first for both the UC system and California community colleges, Riverside Community College District students live among UCR students.
Speakers at the event hailed the partnership as a model for other institutions in providing safe, affordable housing and encouraging community college students to continue their education at UCR or other campuses by getting a taste of life at a four-year university.
Hu said the project embodies UCR’s commitment to both excellence and access.
“By bringing together students from two institutions, we’re advancing a model that does not yet exist elsewhere in California, a model grounded in shared purpose and collaboration,” he said. “And at the heart of this project is a simple but powerful truth: Housing is not just a building, but a basic need and the foundation for success for many students.”
RCCD students moved into apartments in late August while UCR students joined them in late September.
Isaac said it was inspiring to see students and their families on the first move-in day in August, full of excitement and pride for their next chapter in life. The partnership allows RCCD students to view universities as attainable and see where higher education can take them, he said.
“Our students will make new connections and lasting friendships,” he said. “They will socialize, work, and study together, and they will all be richer for these experiences.”
Reilly described the project as both visionary and practical.
“It will indeed expand access, foster community and strengthen success, and we are committed to finding more ways like this project to welcome more transfer students in the years to come,” she said.
The 415,000-square-foot complex features 429 units with 1,568 beds in two apartment-style buildings. It includes a 700-space parking lot, a 2.4-acre community park, three new playing fields, and a neighborhood market with a coffee bar.
The project was completed after 21 months of construction, a “lightning fast” speed, said Jacqueline Norman, campus architect. She described the buildings as instruments of transformation that have the potential to shape the lives of thousands of students — not just where they live but how they learn and grow.
“North District is a story unfolding over time. With each new phase, the North District becomes ever more than the sum of its parts, evolving into a vital part of a campus landscape and purpose,” she said. “We're proud of what it’s built and even more excited for what it will make possible.”
