A biweekly publication for faculty and staff

Progress on 2020 Project Continues

September 9, 2014

Campus planners continue to report progress on the 2020 Project, the university’s ambitious initiative to add new facilities to support total enrollment of 10,000 students by the end of the current decade.

Dan Feitelberg, vice chancellor for Planning and Budget, said the campus reached a major step in the process when the request for qualifications (RFQ) stage closed July 28. Six strong development teams submitted statements of qualifications. A detailed listing of the teams can be found online.

Over the coming months, the planning committee will review each submission and develop a short list of teams that will be invited to submit formal proposals during the request for proposals (RFP) stage.

Selection of the winning team is expected by the end of 2015, with construction beginning in 2016 and completion of the first building as early as late 2017.

The 2020 Project will add up to 1.85 million square feet of teaching, research and residential facilities on a 219-acre site that includes the existing campus. An amendment to the campus’s 2009 Long-Range Development Plan, approved by the UC Board of Regents in May 2013, will allow faster and more cost-effective construction than initially planned. Additional regental reviews will be scheduled as the project moves forward.

Plans to add physical capacity in downtown Merced also gained momentum during the summer with the university’s acquisition of a .85-acre parcel of land at the corner of 18th and N streets. The site is earmarked for construction of administrative office space, part of the university’s previously announced goal of moving most administrative personnel to off-campus locations.