UC Riverside Housing Services has announced plans to demolish Bannockburn Village this summer and notified tenants that the aging student housing complex will close at the end of June.

The campus will explore future redevelopment options for the site with site feasibility planning to begin in the coming months, said Heidi Scribner, associate vice chancellor of Auxiliary Services.

The decision to close Bannockburn comes as the need for substantial repairs and renovations at the housing and commercial complex to key systems and infrastructure has continued to mount. 

Improvements have been made in recent months but the complex needs extensive plumbing, electrical, structural, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning work that could cost upwards of $20 million.

“Bannockburn is a highly aged facility,” Scribner said. “The upkeep and maintenance is costing us more and more. We’re now at a point where the amount of investment needed is just too extensive.”

Built in 1968, the complex consists of 22 wood-frame buildings, mostly residential apartments with some commercial and office space across approximately 181,680 square feet.

The complex houses 340 residents in 243 apartments whose leases end June 30. Residents were notified of the complex closure on Feb. 2 and offered priority application consideration for housing at other campus locations.

The two commercial tenants at Bannockburn, Sub Station and J Bez Barbershop & Salon, have also been notified that they can remain operating at the site until June. While the Sub Station’s lease ends Feb. 28, the university is exploring options with the business.

The rest of the complex includes offices for Auxiliary Services and Residential Life staff members who will be relocated to other offices. Student Affairs is working with Foster Youth Support Services to find a new space for the group, which also has its office at Bannockburn.

The complex will be fully fenced off once it has been vacated with demolition to follow immediately after.

Future plans would seek to make better use of the 6.5-acre property, consistent with the university’s 2021 Long Range Development Plan, which calls for the site to be redeveloped at higher residential and overall density.  

Bannockburn was built at a lower density with two to three-story buildings in a sprawling layout, Scribner said. By comparison, the recently opened North District 2 complex houses 1,568 students in two apartment-style buildings on 4.5 acres.