San Mateo County Community College District student housing project moving forward

The agreement is for nearly $4 million but Dr. Richard Storti, executive vice chancellor of Administrative Services, said only about $55,000 would be spent before July 1. Additional funds will only be spent if the district receives confirmation that it will be awarded a $56 million state grant through the Higher Education Student Housing program. 

“This is an outstanding opportunity for the district to receive $56 million of state funding to build a 304-bed student housing facility here at the College of San Mateo,” Storti said during a Board of Trustees meeting May 24. 

The project is one of six student housing projects that have been called out for potential funding in the state budget. It ranked fifth out of a total of 21 applications that were submitted. Whether the district will receive the state money is still up in the air. 

Storti said the dollars were called out in the revised state budget, released in mid-May, but the financial plan has yet to be formally adopted. State legislators are still currently grappling with challenging fiscal decisions given concerns for a projected $32 billion budget shortfall. The budget proposal calls for reducing the amount of money spent of student housing grants from $750 million to $500 million for fiscal year 2023-24, delaying the additional $250 million until fiscal year 2024-25.

“There’s a lot of unknowns with the state, especially in today’s environment,” Storti said, adding, “we want to hit the ground running on July 1,” if the funds are approved.  

The district was initially denied a construction grant after being awarded a $200,000 planning grant last year. But in January, staff applied for the construction grant for the 2023-24 fiscal year. Part of what made the application so attractive, Storti said, was the district’s offer to provide $10 million in matching funds for the project. 

If the state money does not come through, Storti said the district will immediately stop its work. He assured the board that HPI Architecture is well aware of the possibility the plans may stall and those details will be included in the final contract with the firm. 

Storti said HPI Architecture was selected by a committee, despite offering the highest bid, for its track record developing similar student housing plans in other areas. The firm is behind student housing projects for Napa Valley College, Orange Coast College and Santa Rosa Junior College and a number of student centers and other school facilities. 

“To move aggressively and quickly through the process, staff is providing a recommendation to move forward with the architectural firm HPI. HPI is a leader in the industry as far as designing student housing projects at the community college level,” Storti said. “[HPI has] a lot of valuable experience when it comes to designing the facility and also working with the division of state architects on moving the plans forward.”