UCLA to build more student housing at 565 Gayley Avenue

After spending nearly $900 million to add 5,000 student beds in and around its Westwood campus, UCLA is coming back for more.

The university recently began the environmental review process for the redevelopment of Gayley Towers, an existing university-owned apartment building at 565 Gayley Avenue. The existing 57,000-square-foot building - which features 51 apartments and 100 student beds - would be razed to make way for a new eight-story, roughly 112,000-square-foot structure which would offer "co-living" style apartments with communal bathrooms, as well as shared spaces for cooking, eating, studying, and socializing.

Total new construction would include a total of 187 bedrooms, with 545 beds provided through triple-occupancy rooms. Of that total, plans call for setting aside 358 beds for low-income undergraduate students. UCLA has received $35 million in state funding, which will allow the designated beds to be offered at a monthly rental rate of $600. The remaining 184 beds would be priced at market rates.

As with other recent student housing projects built by UCLA, no on-site parking is proposed.

Mithun is designing the Gayley Towers redevelopment, which is described in the environmental study as having a donut shape which will allow an interior courtyard to be open to exterior elements. Ground floor communal spaces would be centered around the courtyard, and create a contiguous area with the main entrance. Illustrations depict a contemporary building, composed of concrete and clad in materials such as plaster, porcelain, metal, and glass. Additionally, a central glass tower would divide the twin masses of the building, and house additional common areas within.

For the purposes of analysis, the environmental study estimates that construction of the project is expected to begin as early as 2024 and open for students by Fall Quarter in 2026.

The project will require approval by the University of California Board of Regents.

Though it is not university owned, the project bears many similarities to another apartment complex set to cater to students next door. Georgia-based real estate development firm Landmark Properties is planning 166 student bedrooms in an adjoining property at 10915 W. Strathmore Drive.

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