San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Stanford planning expansion by buying site of nearby college
Stanford University, which has struggled to expand its footprint for academic programs and housing on the ultra-pricey Bay Area Peninsula, plans to purchase and renovate the property of a nearby university that has scaled down its programs significantly amid financial difficulties.
Stanford officials in early October submitted an application to the city of Belmont that kicks off the review process for its planned purchase of the 46-acre Notre Dame de Namur University campus in Belmont. In September 2021, Stanford entered into an option to purchase the property where the 172-yearold Catholic institution is located.
The option came six months after NDNU announced it was converting into an online and graduate school with some inperson instruction after years of declining undergraduate and graduate enrollment.
While Stanford has said little so far about how it wants to use the property, it envisions adding up to 200 units of housing and 1,350 parking spaces for students, faculty and staff, as well as new buildings for education and community programs. No decisions have been made about what programs and majors might be offered there, officials said.
This appears to be Stanford’s latest attempt to expand its academic programs and build housing, though the university would not provide The Chronicle
information about its overall expansion goals.
During the past decade, Stanford had pursued an ambitious proposal that would have added 10,000 people per day to the main campus along with 2.3 million square feet in new academic space, 2,172 new housing units and a $1.1 billion transit program. However, after three years of negotiations, Santa Clara County officials — whose approval was required — remained unconvinced that the plan addressed their concerns about housing and traffic congestion, and Stanford withdrew it in 2019.
Since then, Stanford has not revealed any new plans of that scale, though it recently acquired the leasehold on a 759unit residential building near campus to provide housing for “university affiliates,” according to Stanford’s news agency — with postdoctoral students getting highest priority. Provost Persis Drell called it a “significant step forward in our efforts to expand housing opportunities for the Stanford community on and near campus.”
University President Mark Tessier-Lavigne also floated the idea last year of building a ninth neighborhood on campus in its revamped residential system, which would allow it to increase undergraduate enrollment by 25%, according to the Stanford Daily.
The agreement for the Belmont campus would allow both universities to operate at the campus independently, according to university officials.
Notre Dame de Namur remains accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, though it received a warning this year due to financial, planning and leadership issues.
Kurt Allen, the university’s spokesperson, said accreditation officials will visit the campus in April 2023 for an evaluation.
“The agreement with Stanford supports NDNU’s future fiscal sustainability, which was one of the concerns of the (WASC) commission,” Allen said.
The conceptual development plan application submitted by Stanford last month to the city of Belmont seeks permission to “renovate and revitalize” the 46acre campus over a 30-year period, according to the application document.
Carlos de Melo, community development director for Belmont, said public hearings on the proposal wouldn’t happen until 2024 and the project would need environmental review and other approvals to build housing there.
The application lays out Stanford’s proposal to expand the school while preserving and restoring some of the university’s historic buildings, such as the Ralston Mansion, named after William Chapman Ralston, a San Francisco financier who established the Bank of California.
Luisa Rapport, a Stanford spokeswoman, told The Chronicle in a statement that the potential purchase “presents exciting opportunities” for the university
as it aligns with its “Long-Range Vision” to launch new programs and engage with the Bay Area community.
NDNU’s “existing use as a residential academic campus was an important consideration for Stanford, as was its location on the Peninsula, in proximity to public transit and the university’s existing Stanford and Redwood City campuses,” said Rapport.
The Belmont campus is 11 miles from Stanford’s main Palo Alto campus and 5 miles from its Redwood City administrative satellite, whose offices employ 2,700 staffers.
Rapport said officials will submit more detailed plans to the city if the conceptual development plan is approved.
Over the last year, Stanford officials said, they reached out to the Belmont community about the university’s plans, and residents expressed a desire to use the campus for community programs as well.
“We’ve been encouraged by
the community’s excitement, openness and really constructive involvement as our team has developed our application,” Lucy Wicks, Stanford’s assistant vice president of government affairs, told the Belmont City Council at a meeting last month.
The Koretz turf field and Ralston Mansion, which has been closed since 2012, would be open for community use, Stanford officials said.
Stanford officials declined to disclose how much they agreed to pay for the property, citing the option agreement, which they said prohibits sharing the price.
Allen, the Notre Dame de Namur spokesman, said in a statement that Stanford’s plans to buy the campus would “provide financial resources” to the school and enable it to develop new programs.