Visit the Anchor House website to learn more about this transformative student housing project at UC Berkeley: https://capitalstrategies.berkeley.ed...

Located at the corner of University Avenue and Oxford Street, Anchor House is just one block from the UC Berkeley campus and three blocks from the Berkeley Bart station. This transformative student residential project will provide 772 beds and is the first campus housing targeted for transfer students. Anchor House began construction in November 2021 and is on schedule for the first resident students to move into the building for the start of fall semester 2024.

The shortage of available and affordable housing for Berkeley’s students is a matter of urgent concern for the university. A significant percentage of Berkeley's undergraduates are not able to live on or near campus due to the low supply of housing and high market prices. Living distant from campus impedes a student's ability to thrive academically, socially, and culturally. This challenge is especially acute for transfer students, who are historically underserved by campus housing.

A higher percentage of transfer students come from underprivileged backgrounds as compared to freshman entrants. In 2020-21, UC Berkeley admitted 4,779 transfer students, predominantly from California: 45% are first-generation college students; 43% are Pell Grant eligible; One-third are from under-represented minority groups (African American, Chicanx, Latinx, and Native American); and more than 95% are from California community colleges.

The long-term operation of Anchor House will not require any public funds. Income from the building will be used to meet operational expenses, fund enhanced living experiences for transfer and upper division students, and fund a reserve to ensure that the building is maintained to a high level.

Proceeds from Anchor House’s net operating revenue will be used to provide an estimated 100 two-year scholarships to UC Berkeley students annually to eligible transfer students, a portion of which will be awarded through the Fiat Lux Scholarship Program, which focuses on students from underrepresented populations and first-generation college students.

The design of Anchor House seeks to set a higher standard for student residential living. The project team is composed of award-winning design firms, including lead design architects Morris Adjmi Architects, locally-based architects BDE, Brand Bureau/AvroKO for experience and interior design, and Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture for the landscape design.

The certified LEED Gold building includes 244 apartments with individual bedrooms for 772 students, with each apartment furnished with full kitchen and laundry. As the residents will be juniors and seniors, these apartments will foster independent living skills vital to the students after they graduate.

Other key guiding principles of the building design are well-being and education. Well-being is promoted by incorporating large windows to maximize natural light, as well as building amenities that foster healthy living:
- Exercise (fitness center and yoga/meditation room, bike storage and repair);
- Social interaction (many attractive lounges and meeting rooms to gather);
- Indoor-outdoor living (large central landscaped courtyard, multiple terraces, and balconies with views of the campus and San Francisco Bay); and
- Creativity and craft (Maker’s Space for projects).

Education is also brought into the building in the following ways:
- The Rausser College of Natural Resources will have a cooking classroom in the building with modern facilities to hold its undergraduate and graduate cooking classes, as well as Decal and Basic Needs cooking classes;
- There will be a rooftop vegetable garden where student gardeners can practice and learn organic farming and farm-to-table concepts; and
- Hands-on arts and crafts classes, open to the public, will be offered in the Maker’s Space in collaboration with the UC Berkeley Art Studio.

Anchor House will also provide benefits to others in the campus and public communities:
- Commuting students need a safe, convenient, and welcoming facility to serve as home base and to store their belongings in preparation for an active day on campus. The building will include the campus's first dedicated commuter lounge with lockers and restrooms, as well as access to the building's indoor/outdoor fitness center.
- The ground floor of the building will have community-serving retail and commercial along Oxford Street, University Avenue, and Berkeley Way.
- The campus is under-supplied with event spaces that can cater meals to larger groups. Anchor House will have multiple event spaces for large catered events and workshops, including on the 2nd and 13th floors, and the landscaped central courtyard.