Stanford looks to expand onto campus of nearby Catholic university
Stanford’s next round of expansion could take it all the way to its next neighborhood, expanding the school’s footprint beyond the walls of Stanford West to its first new neighborhood, according to a report presented at an April 20 meeting by Stanford’s Planning and Design Review Committee.
Stanford East would include a new campus entrance, on the north side of campus, to the west of the new Student Life Center, according to the report. It could also involve the development of about 500 additional student housing units over the next 20 years. Stanford would also work with the College Hill neighborhood to expand the University Green at its north end, which currently hosts community spaces and other amenities, including a bike path, as well as the new expansion of Stanford Stadium and athletic and football facilities in the South End.
The development of Stanford East is part of Stanford’s larger plan to grow beyond its core, said Daniel L. Schwartz, a planner and a research scholar at Stanford’s Graduate School of Education.
Schwartz described the east campus expansion as an effort to “build a campus that is more flexible to meet a campus that is bigger [and] more diverse to meet the needs of the next generation.”
He argued that Stanford East is needed because of how quickly the student population has grown. The university is currently on track to enroll over 25,000 students in the fall of 2019, according to Stanford admissions website Stanford.com. That is expected to rise to about 28,000 students in fall 2020.
“We need to really be smart about it so we can maximize the value of all the various spaces on campus,” he said. “[E]verything has its own purpose.”
The plan for Stanford East has been developed on the back of a “comprehensive planning process that involved community engagement and input from a variety of stakeholders,” according to Stanford officials.
Student Housing
According to the report, Stanford would be working with the College Hill neighborhood to expand the University Green at its north end, which currently hosts community spaces and other amenities, including a bike