UC San Diego will begin building historic 6,000-bed campus residential village next year

UC San Diego said Friday it expects to start building a historic 6,000-bed campus residential village next year to help keep up with the demand for lodging at one of the largest and fastest-growing universities on the West Coast.

Chancellor Pradeep Khosla told the Union-Tribune the $2 billion village, to be known as Pepper Canyon East, will likely be constructed in two phases, with the first section providing 2,000 to 3,000 beds by 2030. The second phase will soon follow. And the entire Pepper Canyon East project should be finished in 2032.

There’s also a chance it will have more than 6,000 beds.

“I think 6,000 is where we are still focused on,” Khosla said. “But a few hundred here and there could happen … If it fits, fine. But that is not the goal. That to me is on the margins. We are not trying to make it 8,000.”

The village will be among the largest of its kind in the world and would increase UCSD’s campus housing capacity to 30,500. The La Jolla school is currently tied with UCLA for having the largest university housing stock in the US — 24,500 beds.

Pepper Canyon East would be composed of high-rise buildings that would sit on 20 acres of land on the eastern edge of campus, next to the southbound lanes of Interstate 5, adding to UCSD’s rapidly growing skyline. The university currently has a record 45,087 students — about 16,000 more than when Khosla, an engineer, became chancellor in 2012.