San Diego State University’s new ‘Evolve Student Housing’ project seeks to catch up with increasing demand for affordable student housing. This proposed project would add an estimated 4,500 beds to campus, allowing more students to live in dorms past their second year. 

The housing project is expected to accommodate a larger percentage of the student population in campus housing even as the number of students enrolling at SDSU continues to increase.

Predicted to take place in phases over the next five years, Evolve aims to add a second wing to University Towers residence hall and replace the current west campus sophomore housing, nicknamed “The Tecs,” with half a dozen 9-to-13-story residence hall buildings. These buildings would include a mix of traditional residence halls, suite-style dorms and apartments. 

Phase 1 of construction could begin as soon as the CSU Board of Trustees approves the plans in May. The first step of this phase involves demolishing the first of seven apartment buildings to clear the way for a 9-story dorm hall. It is estimated to house about 650 students, compared to the current building’s 76-bed capacity. 

Starting in November 2025, the rest of Phase 1 would replace University Towers’ current parking lot with construction on the east wing of the hall. 

Although further plans have yet to be detailed, Phases 2 through 6 will involve methodical demolition of the rest of the Tecs to make way for a revitalization of SDSU’s on-campus housing options.

At a community meeting on Sept. 4, 2024, University Architect, Bob Schultz, further explained the Evolve project, claiming that its main goals are to increase the number of students living in school-run communities and to bring on-campus housing prices below those of off-campus apartments and rentals. 

The reasoning behind stretching the project out into phases is to make it more cost-effective for the university and to ensure the number of beds available to students at any given time is not diminished during construction. 

When asked whether the additional buildings would lower the number of triple occupancy rooms in the current dorms, Schultz replied, “Absolutely!” 

He remarked that another important aspect of the housing project would be to “de-densify” on-campus housing by significantly lowering the number of triple occupancy dorm rooms. His stance is that most residence hall rooms were built with the intention of housing only two students, and they should return to being that way unless students specifically request to be placed in three-person rooms.

Despite the university’s optimism about its proposed housing project, many community members residing in the neighborhood adjacent to the west campus shared their concerns about how the influx of students living right next door will affect them. 

One such neighbor is William Snider, who believes that a ten-year-long construction project has the potential to cause massive disruption to the culture and peaceful quiet of his neighborhood. 

He recalls SDSU’s last construction project — the raising of the Huāxyacac residence hall in 2019 — which caused significant traffic from construction vehicles and noise pollution for its duration. 

Another worry, which he shares with many of his neighbors, is how moving so many more students onto campus will affect both vehicle and foot traffic in the long term. 

Introducing thousands more residents to the west campus, many of whom will have cars and all of whom will need to get around, has the potential to worsen commute times in and out of the area if traffic patterns are not adjusted accordingly.

Community members are not the only ones with concerns regarding the execution of the Evolve project. Many students also have thoughts on what the university should be conscious of as its construction plans begin to take a more concrete form. 

Wesley Cooksy, a third-year master’s student studying city planning, commented on the importance of proper fire safety measures being taken into consideration as the university seeks to build up the small area currently occupied by the Tecs, which he pointed out is surrounded by easily flammable dry grass. His concern is that, if a fire safety plan is not meticulously put together for this area in particular, any potential emergency could cause chaos for the large number of residents. 

Diego Martinez, a third-year civil engineering major, wants to see better bicycle lanes and storage incorporated into this project because he hopes it would encourage more students to bring their bikes to campus instead of cars. 

When asked, he also confirmed the university’s idea that he would have been interested in living on campus as an upperclassman if the current dorms were cheaper than an apartment, and he’s not the only one.

“I’m gonna be a junior next year, and I’m looking at apartments, and they’re cheaper than my dorm housing and I despise that,” commented Mikayla Grigsby, a second-year psychology major.

Another student, Carlos Adrian Peniche, a third-year business administration major, agrees with Grigsby, saying that students deserve to be able to afford to live on campus.

Ultimately, if plans for the Evolve student housing project go through, many agree that it will increase the accessibility of on-campus living, but students and neighbors alike are skeptical of the repercussions that may be accompanied by such a large-scale project.