A Newsletter for the Neighbors of the University of California, Berkeley |
 |
|
Plans unfold for downtown hotel, conference,
and museum complex
The UC Berkeley campus has announced plans to develop a hotel, conference center, and museum complex on the west side of campus, adjoining downtown Berkeley's emerging arts district. In late December the campus received eight "statements
of qualifications" from groups of architects, hotel operators, and " We will be selecting a team that has the most experience in developing projects similar in nature to ours - a hotel project with a university or a complex urban environment," said Kevin Hufferd, a senior campus planner and project manager for the proposal. "We will also be looking for teams that show sensitivity to the unique setting of the project. We realize the city is very interested in this development." A hotel and museum center complex - described as a "real jewel" for both the city and university by Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates - has been discussed for several years. The hotel, conference center, and banking portion of the plan could be constructed with private financing as early as mid-2007. The museum complex would follow in a second phase and would be supported by campus fundraising efforts. The project would fill a longstanding need for conference and meeting space and raise about $1 million annually through hotel occupancy taxes for the city, which is facing a growing budget deficit. It also would offer new quarters for the university's world-class Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. The art museum is now housed in seismically challenged space on Bancroft Way. In addition, the project would provide a new and more publicly accessible facility for UC Berkeley's Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology collection, now tucked into cramped campus quarters in Kroeber Hall. Bates, in a recent interview, said he is particularly excited about the planned relocation of these cultural institutions to the city's downtown area. The move, he noted, would effectively double the area of Berkeley's arts district - already home to Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the Aurora Theater Company, and the Jazzschool, and which will soon see the addition of Freight & Salvage music hall and the Judah Magnes Museum of Western Jewish Heritage. Bates praised the project's "synergy" with existing community activities and uses. And, while the city would collect revenues from the development itself, it also would benefit from spin-off spending by hotel and museum visitors, he said. The plan would simultaneously meet campus needs, says Hufferd. "For some time now," he notes, "UC Berkeley faculty have expressed a desire for additional hotel and conference space next to campus to enable them to host their academic and industry colleagues from around the world. This project would meet that need and better serve other visitors to the campus, as well." The hotel proposal calls for 175 to 200 beds and approximately 10,000 to 20,000 square feet of conference space and underground parking. The museum complex would measure as much as 165,000 square feet. A banking center, on the portion of the site owned by Bank of America, would require about 5,000 square feet. The Berkeley project site - bounded by Center and Addison Streets, Shattuck Ave., and Oxford St. - is located at a transit hub served by the downtown Berkeley BART station and several AC transit lines. Approximately 10,000 people traverse Center Street each day, according to city officials. The project site includes the current site of UC Printing Services and a campus parking structure. The printing plant will be relocated; a replacement parking structure will be built near University Hall, across the street from its current location. The project, as it proceeds, will undergo public review and must pass California's environmental review process. The concept of the proposed project, which must be approved by the UC Board of Regents, will be consistent with the university's draft 2020 Long-Range Development Plan. |
||||
|
TOP NEXT PREVIOUS | |
| ||
