From left to right: David McCullough, Principal, McCullough Landscape Architecture; Mark Donahue, Principal, Lowney Architecture; Vincent Polhemus, Associate Director of Preconstruction, Facades, Clark Pacific; Brian Pratt, Associate Vice Chancellor & Campus Architect, University of California, Irvine (UCI), Kevin Conn, Executive Director Student Housing & Residential Life, California State University, Northridge.
By Lindsey Coulter
Bisnow’s June 18 Southern California Student Housing and Higher Education Summit in Los Angeles brought together leaders from across the academic, financing, design and construction communities to tackle nuanced student housing challenges. Beginning with a conversation on Compton College’s volumetric prefab modular student housing project in Compton, Calif. The event covered the growing challenges of funding — especially regarding housing smaller-scale projects — and how design approaches are adapting to meet the unique needs of Gen Z students.
The Compton College Case Study
The event kicked off with a breakdown of Compton College’s volumetric prefabricated modular housing project, completed with the Division of the State Architect by HPI, Bernards and Gafcon.
The 86,000-square-foot, $80 million student housing facility will provide 50 traditional units with access to shared bathrooms and common spaces, 50 semi-suite units with bathrooms and access to common spaces, and 50 studio units for single occupants. As many Compton College students experience food and housing insecurity, 100 percent of occupancy was earmarked for eligible low-income students. The project must also meet the standards of both modular construction and DSA approval.
“We’re building a box that is basically 99% to 100% finished,” said Larry Frapwell, president of HPI. “That box is wrapped, transported, stacked and then finished onsite. The challenges were understanding modular manufacturing and making the best of that system.”
That meant minimizing the project schedule while maximizing the quality of the project all under stringent DSA criteria, while meeting the objectives outlined in the project’s grant. The grant stated that the project could not exceed $80 million and had to be delivered design-bid-build. A modular consultant helped the team understand how to minimize the on-site work as well as the number of modules and module types while meeting DSA criteria.
David Lelie, senior project manager with builder Gafcon, explained the challenge of finding a general contractor with DSA experience, modular experience and residential housing experience, leading the team to do a prequalification process for general contractors as well as modular companies that ultimately led to the selection of Bernards and Boise, Idaho-based Guerdon Modular Buildings.
Cameron Carrizales, regional director of Bernards, spoke to the challenges of working with a DSA inspector across state lines and the need to reframe the modular process from “construction in a controlled environment” to a production line. Additionally, the project essentially had two job sites—the project site and the factory—requiring an even higher degree of communication and coordination within a compressed timeline while trying to lock in the best possible material prices.
From the Funding Perspective
Jason Dunster, senior integrated design director for McCarthy Building Companies, led the “Getting Deals Done: Making Projects Pencil and Delivering Solutions” panel, featuring financing and development experts across the higher education, design, real estate and owner/operator/builder spectrum.
Melissa Soto, manager of Capital Program Development for California State University, Long Beach, succinctly encapsulated the state of the student housing in California.
“We don’t have enough housing, and we don’t have the types of housing that we need and we have a serious affordability issue,” Soto said, noting that the student housing waitlist has jumped from 100 students to more than 2,500 in the years following COVID-19.
“There’s nowhere [affordable] to live in Long Beach. Everyone is looking to the campus to provide that service,” Soto said.
The issue also extends to faculty and staff members, who face similar housing affordability challenges.
Natalie Greenberg, chief operating officer for MJW Investments, helped paint the picture in terms of housing investment sales. “In 2022, we had $22 billion in transaction volume; in 2023, $5.7 billion and in 2024 $8 billion,” Greenberg said. “So, we’re slowly climbing our way up. A lot of that has to do with the interest rate environment.”
Raoul Amescua, senior vice president of Development and Public-Private Partnerships for the Michael’s Organization, raised the issue of tapering high school student populations and the tendency for equity to focus on areas of sustained growth and viability. “Right now, that’s going into the big power four football conferences,” Amescua said, adding that equity is hesitant to invest in California based on unstable insurance costs.
This hesitance is shared by higher education leaders, who, Soto noted, are cautious about taking on the significant debt that would be required to build the housing necessary to meet student demand.
Meeting Student Housing Needs
The day’s final panel, “The Next Generation of Student Housing and Accommodating the Growing Student Body,” centered on meeting the needs of Gen Z students — career-focused digital natives who largely value diversity, mental health, inclusion and community.
Kevin Conn, executive director of Student Housing and Residential Life for California State University, Northridge, and Brian Pratt, associate vice chancellor and campus architect for University of California, Irvine, reiterated the growing need for affordable housing on their respective campuses. Additionally, both shared successes stories from investing in housing that supports student wellness through amenities such as communal kitchens, outdoor areas, lounges and affinity spaces.
Mark Donahue, principal with Lowney Architecture, noted that CSU Long Beach has found creative and cost-effective solutions to some of these issues by developing a laundry facility shared by multiple housing buildings that has become a social hub for students, helping to address the issue of isolation.
Modular and prefabricated solutions were raised by Vince Polhemus, associate director of Preconstruction, Facade, for Clark Pacific, who reiterated their value in meeting a variety of housing and wellness needs while also offering longevity.
“[Prefabrication] has higher quality, because … parts are coming together in controlled factory environments,” Polhemus said. “One of the other benefits … is it requires fewer people on the job site to install.”
Donahue also spoke to the superior strength of modular construction when compared to typical stick frame construction, noting that the estimated lifespan of a modular facility is a third to a half longer—and modular facilities are often erected in just weeks and with significantly less noise, disruption and variability.
Panelists also spoke to more straightforward requests from students to have access to different types of dining, daylight, the ability to fully open windows and other design aspects that give them a sense of control as well as a sense of place and belonging.
See more details on panelists and projects and learn more about future events and conversations.