In time for the spring semester at the University of California, Berkeley, Bee Cave, Texas-based student housing developer American Campus Communities has opened a new housing option for the school’s graduate students — one of a number of dorm projects underway for the school.
xučyun ruwway, located 2.5 miles north of Berkeley in Albany, California, takes its name from the language of the East Bay Ohlone Tribe, according to a press release from ACC. The university consulted with members of East Bay tribal groups with ancestral ties to the land to suggest names for the property, the release said.
The five-building complex offers 761 beds for single students across 286 total apartments, tripling the university’s supply of single graduate housing, according to the release. Each furnished unit includes a full kitchen with major appliances, in-unit laundry and large windows. All of the building’s systems are electric, including utilities, lighting and kitchen appliances.
Amenities include a fitness center, lounges, meeting rooms and over 55,000 square feet of green space, including gardens, picnic areas and recreational lawns. Residents are within walking distance of several shopping options and grocery stores, as well as a transit plaza offering service to the main campus.
Other dorm projects
UC Berkeley houses only 21% of its undergraduate students on campus — the lowest of any of the University of California branches, according to an analysis by the UC Board of Regents.
The university is underway on several student housing projects, including a 1,100-bed undergraduate dormitory and 100-unit supportive housing development at the former site of People’s Park in Berkeley, established by locals on university-owned land in the 1960s.
A protest against the development resulted in multiple arrests and $1.5 million in damages to construction equipment in August 2022. Shortly afterward, local advocacy groups filed lawsuits to stop construction at the site. The university closed off access to the park with shipping containers in January 2024, and was cleared to resume construction by the California Supreme Court six months later.
In a construction update last month, UC Berkeley reported that the student dormitory was proceeding on schedule, with sitework and grading nearly complete. The university is in the process of selecting a developer for the supportive housing component, which will begin construction after the student housing is finished.
