A new addition to the dorms on the Fresno State campus will be a $60 million affordable apartment complex with 175 units and 80,000 square feet of space. Photo by Ben Hensley

Officials at Fresno State are planning a big step in helping students find affordable housing.

Currently, 5% of Fresno State’s more than 24,000 students live on campus. Specifically designed for single-student housing, floor plans are offered in community living, pairing two students to a room in traditional “dormitory-style” housing, as well as one, two- and three-bedroom suite options.

A new type of student housing is on the way, however.

In late December, a request for proposal (RFP) was issued by the university for its first major housing project since the 1960s: $60 million for affordable apartments, adding to the 1,100 existing dorm beds on campus.

Last month, SVA Architects in Santa Ana was selected as the design firm for the project.

Tinnah Medina, Fresno State associate vice president of facilities management, said the university is in the process of selecting a construction manager for the project.

While still in the early stages of development, the proposal to construct a 175-unit, 80,000 square-foot building funded through a higher-ed housing grant will be located near the existing student housing facilities.

“It will be located on our landmark corner off Cedar and Shaw,” Medina said. “That is directly adjacent to our existing housing stock.”

Erin Boele, director of housing at Fresno State, said the project has been needed for some time to accommodate students who otherwise would be required to search for off-campus housing.

“It’s amazing that the state is behind us to build affordable housing for our students,” Boele said. “It’s one of the things that I’ve always strived for…to keep our campus as affordable as we can for our students.”

A total of $1.4 billion is heading to 26 California public campuses to build or expand dorms. Once the structures are complete, about 7,300 students in the Golden State will have access to beds at ultra-low rents.

The Fresno State project, expected to be located near Homan Hall, likely will not see groundbreaking until late 2024, with design meetings planned to finalize the site. The existing parking lot will need to be reconfigured.

“We’re putting a little bit of a fixed criteria or maximum as to how many [parking] stalls it will displace,” Medina said. “The architect is going to be challenged with how high this building is going to be.”

With the project estimated to displace around 200 to 250 parking stalls, Medina said that the height of the building will be designed to retain the maximum number of stalls currently available on campus. Part of the design process will examine options to redesign the existing parking lot, or even adding a parking structure in the future. Details regarding the future of the parking lot, however, remain uncertain.

“We’re not there yet,” Medina said, adding that as the project design is approved, the future of the parking lot will also be determined.

The project is estimated to have a completion date of May 2026.

The structure, which Medina said will fit in with the existing aesthetic, will likely not be full red brick as much of the existing structures are, but will be cohesive with the rest of the campus’ appearance.

“I think there’s a lot of tricks to the trade so to speak in architecture that you can kind of make these visual ties and not be so specific and direct about it,” Medina said. “That is a design goal that we’re really pushing the team [towards] and being mindful of in that regard.”

Currently, Fresno State Student Housing does not offer “apartment style” living, which prevents students with children and families from living on campus.

Boele said that Fresno State Student Housing is working with other universities in the CSU (California State University) system that have existing apartment-style housing to guide them through the process.

“One of the things that the CSU is doing really well is — all of my colleagues on the other campuses — we’re sharing all of the plans of our current buildings so we’re not having to start from scratch,” Boele said. “There are some really successful apartment complexes on other sites, so we’re going to jig those plans and just modify them slightly to Fresno so that we can move faster through the timeline.”

Students would be required to apply to become a resident, but once approved, would see lower rent than comparable off-campus housing.

“It’s really trying to get our students to be able to get on campus and not have any big loans or bills or anything like that, and have a place to live that’s secure,” Boele said.

Boele said that the safe, secure and engaging environment on campus benefits students in a learning environment.

“Students who live on campus graduate at a higher rate than students who live off campus,” Boele said. “They’re going to graduate faster; they’re going to be part of our community and contribute back to the community faster than students who live off [campus].”