Sacramento State University President Dr. Luke Wood announced a historic, multi-million-dollar investment to create a new downtown campus.

“I mean this is one of the largest investments in this region and certainly in a downtown core. And for Sacramento State, it represents one of the largest gifts we’ve ever received, if not the largest ever,” Wood said.

The planned campus would be located on Capitol Mall, near the state Capitol, and is designed to bring students downtown not only to learn, but also to live.

“We’ll be next door to the state capitol, and it will be a way for us to bring students to learn but also to live,” Wood said. “And so, a big piece of this is being able to provide housing that’s going to benefit students but also being able to provide learning opportunities that benefit the region.”

Wood said the project would significantly change the face of the Capitol Mall and is being made possible through Meta-led catalyst funding tied to the state’s Department of General Services. The investment totals $50 million.

The funding would help reimagine underused downtown properties, including the former Employment Development Department headquarters. Wood said Sacramento State worked with the Department of General Services last year to secure first right of refusal on several downtown buildings, including the EDD building, the solar annex and the personnel building located behind the Sutter Club.

“We see ourselves as an engine for economic development,” he said. “And when our state workers left, and we obviously haven’t seen all of those state workers come back, we have these buildings that are sitting downtown that aren’t being used to their maximum capacity.”

Plans for the downtown campus could include classroom space for Sacramento State’s School of Public Affairs, student housing and hotel space, with the goal of drawing more people downtown and supporting the local economy.

“Being able to have classroom space for our School of Public Affairs, being able to have opportunities to stay in terms of hotels… We’re looking at a comprehensive campus because it’s a comprehensive need for this region,” Wood said. “But again, it’s being an engine for economic development. It’s trying to revitalize this urban core so that we’re bringing more people downtown, more people to help the local economy in Sacramento.”

Wood, a former Sacramento State student himself, said the expansion is especially meaningful given the population the university serves.

“If you think about the students that we serve, Sacramento State, first generation students who are first in their family to go to college, lower income often times from minoritized communities,” Wood said. “Now, what we’re doing is we’re providing them with opportunities that will lead to upward social and economic mobility.”

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