Family playing at the park

Orchard Park

Project Summary - Orchard Park

PROJECT GOALS

UC Davis is seeking a Developer to redevelop Orchard Park to provide affordable housing for UC Davis students with families, married students or students with registered domestic partners, and single graduate students. UC Davis’ goals for the Orchard Park Project are to maximize affordability, to enhance the quality of resident life, and to provide for exceptional facility design and operations. The Project should be available for occupancy by August 2020.

Affordability

  • The selected Developer will be required to provide at least 200 two-bedroom apartments (400 beds) for UC Davis students with families at a starting rent of $1,000 per unit in 2017 dollars. The campus seeks to limit the annual rent escalations on these affordable units to the lesser of (i) CPI, or (ii) 2%.
  • The selected Developer will be allowed to build a target of 700 beds for single graduate students. The exact number of beds, apartment unit mix, number, height and massing of buildings, common facilities, parking provisions and all other design matters will be determined by a collaborative site planning design process beginning with the second phase of the RFP process. These units should be designed to maximize affordability and density. The starting rent for these units will be the market rate (as of 2020) for comparable units in the Davis market (to be identified in the ground lease). Annual rent escalations on these market rate units will be the lesser of (i) CPI, or (ii) 3%.
  • The selected Developer will be asked to eliminate security deposits or to allow for security deposits to be paid in installments over time to assist with affordability.

Quality of Resident Life

  • The selected Developer will be asked to provide a long-term property management plan to provide best-in-class property management.
  • The ground lease will provide for an annual evaluation of property management services by UC Davis Student Housing and Dining Services and UC Davis Real Estate Services using agreed upon performance metrics.
  • The selected Developer will be asked to work closely with UC Davis Student Housing and Dining Services to develop a resident program to provide support to the graduate students and student families who live at Orchard Park.

Facility Design and Operations

  • The selected Developer will be required to develop a site plan that maximizes density on the site. Student family units should be located on the first and/or second floors, if possible, with easy access to the outdoors and neighborhood open space.
  • The Project should be designed to preserve all existing heritage oak trees at Orchard Park.  Tree Survey.
  • The Project should include open spaces with recreational amenities for children and adults throughout the site and a large common green space.
  • The Project should include a community building.
  • The Project does not impose a building height restriction.  Exceeding the target of 1,100 beds, is encouraged, if financially feasible.
  • The Project should incorporate low-impact design features to treat storm water run-off from the site consistent with the UC Davis Storm Water Master Plan.
  • The Developer should present the most cost effective laundry strategy – whether in unit or common laundry facilities.
  • Each student family unit should be provided with one on-site parking space.
  • The Project should be designed as a bicycle-oriented development. On-site automobile parking for the Project should be minimized to the extent feasible and alternative parking and transportation solutions should be evaluated. The University will work with the selected Developer to minimize on-site parking allowing for more acreage to be used to provide additional student housing on the Project site. The University may provide remote, off-site parking to serve the Project.
  • The Project should incorporate bike-friendly amenities on-site and include dedicated bicycle pathways and secure bicycle parking (at least 1 bike parking spot per bed) and bike-friendly circulation.

PROJECT SITE

The Orchard Park Project site consists of approximately 19 acres located at the northwest corner of the UC Davis core campus. The Project site is bounded by Russell Boulevard to the north, Orchard Park Drive to the east, Orchard Park Circle to the south and Highway 113 to the west. Properties adjoining the Project site are the Russell Park student housing project to the east and the Baggins End Innovative Housing Project (the “Domes”) to the south.

The Project site is presently improved with the Orchard Park apartment complex, comprised of 200 two-bedroom apartments in 22 two-story buildings originally constructed in 1963. The complex has been vacant since 2014. UC Davis will demolish the complex during the fall of 2017 and will deliver a vacant site to the selected Developer.

One of the opportunities and constraints of the Project site is a large number of heritage cork oak trees. Tree Survey.  The design team for the selected Developer should plan for the preservation of these trees in the site plan for the Project. UC Davis’ goal is to preserve all heritage oak trees. The demolition Project is planning to remove all non-heritage trees to provide greater design flexibility.

All utilities are available to the site with main distribution lines existing in Russell Boulevard and Orchard Park Drive. UC Davis staff believes that utility capacities are adequate to serve the Project; however, the Developer will be expected to confirm the adequacy of utilities and will be responsible for all utility costs/fees as a cost to the Project, including any connection fees for campus utilities. Electricity and gas will likely be served by PG&E from the north end of the Project site, while the wet utilities including domestic water, storm water and sewer will be served by UC Davis campus infrastructure from the south end of the Project site.

At a minimum, UC Davis will require that the design of the Project meet the UC Sustainable Practices Policy and take into account the UC Carbon Neutrality Initiative. Additional sustainable and environmentally-responsive elements such as aggressive energy efficiency measures and renewable energy are preferred and Developer teams will be given extra consideration for leading-edge sustainable design elements.

The selected Developer will be required to comply with the provisions of law governing public works including, without limitation, Labor Code sections 1773, 1773.2, 1773.3, 1773.8, 1775 (payment of prevailing wages), 1776 (payroll records), and 1777.5 (employment of apprentices).

As the site is University-owned, the Project is not subject to the zoning and building ordinances of local jurisdictions, including building permits and inspections. The Regents of the University of California will serve as the entitling body for the Project, and as such will function as the lead agency with respect to compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”). The University will serve as the building official with respect to review and approval of Project construction documents and inspection of the construction of the Project. Project construction plans will also be subject to review and approval by the campus designated State Fire Marshal. The design of the Project will be subject to the approval of the Board of Regents.