{"id":156065,"date":"2026-01-30T04:34:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T04:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/156065\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T04:34:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T04:34:17","slug":"csu-sacramento-to-use-50m-donation-for-ai-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/156065\/","title":{"rendered":"CSU Sacramento to Use $50M Donation for AI Center"},"content":{"rendered":"

(TNS) \u2014 Sacramento State is partnering with the technology company Meta to convert excess government buildings into a downtown campus that will include academic facilities and affordable student housing to help revitalize the district that has struggled to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that Meta, which is based in Menlo Park, was providing $50 million in funding to transform three state buildings on Capitol Mall into mixed-use facilities for California State University, Sacramento faculty and students.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis project will create new housing for students and professionals and support state-of-the-art STEM facilities, including a new School of Public Affairs and dedicated AI Center,\u201d Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. \u201cI believe these investments will help strengthen our communities and support the next generation of leaders and innovators.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, the state provided CSU Sacramento with exclusive rights to evaluate these properties and explore opportunities to build academic facilities and housing. The partnership with Meta will fund the abatement and demolition work needed to begin the process of building new housing and other facilities.<\/p>\n

Previously, the state unsuccessfully tried<\/a> to contract a private developer to transform these buildings \u2014 the Employment Development Department headquarters building at 800 Capitol Mall; the EDD Solar Building at 751 N Street; and the State Personnel Board Building at 801 Capitol Mall \u2014 into nearly 700 residential units. In 2024, St. Louis-based developer McCormack Baron Salazar withdrew from an arrangement after California did not provide funding for an adaptive reuse study.<\/p>\n

Since he first came into office seven years ago, Newsom has pushed to convert excess state property into housing. As of last November, his administration touted 32 projects in \u201cvarious phases of development\u201d that would eventually result in nearly 4,300 housing units.<\/p>\n

University President Luke Wood said last year that CSU Sacramento had plans to open a downtown campus<\/a>, which would help the university generate revenue by hosting events and providing office space \u2014 moves that could help offset budget cuts. Thursday\u2019s announcement noted that there are plans to build a mixed\u2011use performing arts space and boutique hotel in these facilities.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Wood added that these new facilities would position CSU Sacramento as a \u201cflagship university, one that embodies economic vitality, expands access to opportunity, and integrates academic excellence with innovation, housing, and community in the heart of California\u2019s capital.\u201d<\/p>\n

The university will soon issue a request for proposals for a master plan for the project, said Michelle Willard, chief of external relations and interim senior associate vice president for university communications.<\/p>\n

The $50 million investment will \u201cjumpstart\u201d the initial work for the project, but the ultimate price tag will be higher. \u201cWe\u2019re extremely grateful,\u201d Willard said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really excited to do something catalytic for our community and the Sacramento region. It\u2019s what this community deserves and needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty said the cash infusion would help bring life back to the city\u2019s core. \u201cThis is about bringing people, energy, and opportunity back to downtown Sacramento,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u00a92026 The Sacramento Bee. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(TNS) \u2014 Sacramento State is partnering with the technology company Meta to convert excess government buildings into a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":{"0":"post-156065","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sacramento","8":"tag-sacramento","9":"tag-sacramento-headlines","10":"tag-sacramento-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}