My first thought? Thank goodness they didn't choose the site adjoining Suck State.

In all seriousness though, I think there is value in this endeavor if done correctly - that is expanding UC Davis' circle of influence and providing students with more meaningful connections to future employers. At my company, demonstrated experience with internships is as important in recruiting as the framed degree on the wall. This could also help attract some companies to the Sacramento area that want to be near a center of education but would have been too big for Davis proper (like an Amazon-type campus). Maybe could renew some public interest in the Causeway Classic, but in a more mature manner, the way the Horseshoe Classic has become.

If done incorrectly, this could be a step down the path of transforming UC Davis from a residential university to a regional commuter mega-university with a majority of students eventually never learning to navigate a bike circle because they haven't set foot on the namesake campus. I'd rather let Sac State own the business of wide scale vocational education for the masses while we stay focused on changing the world, elitist as that may sound.

Or this could turn out to be nothing more than another collection of very expensive LEED certified beige-concrete-and-glass office buildings that don't amount to much other than increased payroll and perceived feather in the cap of the mayor.

Fug, you can clearly see that the sac bee strongly endorses your “incorrect” scenario. Because of so-called “inadequate housing” on the Davis campus, they envision undergrads and new housing on the sac campus. The bee has absolutely zero interest in how this could benefit UC Davis and only wants it for what it will do for sac. Mayor Steinberg is a friend of UC Davis and Oak Park needs all the help it can get, but Chancellor May must watch out that he not bambozzled by sac people into some expensive projects that do not directly advance UC Davis’ educational goals.

For what it's worth, on the UC Davis subreddit I see more and more people complaining about a housing shortage since I graduated -- they're growing the university each year and while admin is somewhat keeping pace with freshman dorms, there hasn't been much housing growth for upperclassmen. As a result the private apartments are getting more competitive and more expensive.

So I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest that the Sac campus might have housing. And I heard the idea was tossed around a few years ago in strategic planning meetings.

Several new developments in the works, and a new try for Nishi to be 100% student housing, between the freeway and Mrak, and downtown.

Not much planned density. I'd double the size.

I had to go to Carmicheal yesterday for business and we got stuck on the causeway at 2 pm. Traffic totally jammed. Took 30 more minutes to get into sac than google said we would. That said if we plan to start moving students into sac housing (where it is apparently “abundant”) when they start attending classes on the Davis campus there’s going to be a big problem. Maybe light rail could help, but I see no active interest for sac to move it into Davis. Movie is right. Orchard Park is being rebuilt (my old stomping ground) and a large new apartment complex on Olive drive as well. Nishi remains an issue, but it may pass this time. Davis is just too NIMBY. A half a dozen attorneys make a living in Davis challenging any kind of development that could aliveate this housing problem.

I had a girlfriend in college from Carmichael, she lived in Sac and had put her Sac State education on hold. Took me there, looked to be a great neighborhood, but her family home was run down. Big lawns, large trees.

FYI, I also think Sterling Apartments on 5th Street has been approved, approximately 200 units.

Little different today, some new units are 5 bedrooms?, and some rent by-the-bed???

Plus, after pushing for Aggie Square with all its might in major part because of the much more “abundant housing” in sac, sac bee in editorial today now says the project should add a major new housing element so that oak park is not “gentrified” and does not push out the long time oak park residents. So UC Davis should now build housing in sac so UC Davis students can commute to sac daily? Adding even more traffic to the moving parking lot known as I80? Nonsense in my book. Keep UC Davis in Davis!

Sacbee is a non consequential paper. They need to die out. They do nothing for the area and promote shoddy journalism.

According to the sac business journal the bee has just laid off 14 more journalists. It laid off 12 last year. It’s stock value has plummeted 85% since 2014. I know its a tough time now for print journalism, but the bee’s shoddy policies and business practices have contributed towards this steep decline.

If they were nicer to UC Davis they may not be in this predicament...

I read their whacky liberal oped pieces, and often the comments below are 80% conservative. Hello!

Why continue to alienate 40, 45% of your customers?

Zither, you are correct. They just nailed (supposedly) the long sought after “east area rapist” and it turns out he went to sac state and became a cop, then a serial rapist and killer. Can you just imagine what the bee would do with this story if he went to UC Davis?

Lack of affordable housing in Davis is a real issue. West Village was supposed to be part of the answer, but a 1 bedroom apartment there is over $2k per month. Granted, by San Francisco standards this would be a bargain, but hard to call this university subsidized housing "affordable". There are a lot of "I got mine so f-- you" types in Davis who fight all growth, whether responsible or not.

Who planned this scenario?

Oh, but it's got solar and eco friendly... but what about cost!!??