UCSF is a large, often-expanding institution that plays a significant role in many San Francisco neighborhoods. We are a major employer. We have campus sites and satellite locations in many areas of the city, as well as one location in South San Francisco. We influence traffic patterns and parking availability.

And we take seriously our responsibility to be a good neighbor. We try to anticipate issues and be responsive to questions and concerns about our activities, especially about our construction projects. This means making every effort to keep the lines of communication wide open.

Part of being a good neighbor also entails creating community partnerships that facilitate the training and hiring of local residents and reaching out to local businesses.

If any of the project descriptions at the links below does not provide the information you need, please contact Yolande Salyer.

In 1985, UCSF purchased land that was once a part of the historic Laurel Hill Cemetery. Some 14 years later, the University officially opened its Laurel Heights campus, a 465,000-square-foot building that sits on 10.9 acres of land.

Originally, the University wanted to house some biomedical laboratories for the School of Pharmacy at Laurel Heights, but after the community objected and an eight-year legal challenge ensued, the University re-evaluated its needs. Today, Laurel Heights includes various academic units and administrative groups (including the office of Community and Governmental Relations), Human Resources, the Center for Health and Community, and the UCSF Medical Effectiveness Research Center for Diverse Populations. In addition, approximately nine Regents' meetings are held at Laurel Heights yearly. Meetings are held once a month for an average of two days, except in April, August and December.

Typically, the Regents hold the meetings at The Laurel Heights Conference Center. Located on Sub-Level One of the building, the center consists of: a 293-person, fixed-seat auditorium with audio-visual capabilities; three large meeting/break-out rooms, each of which can accommodate up to 60 participants in a variety of flexible seating arrangements; and a small pre-function/lobby area. When not in use by the Regents, the Conference Center is available to UCSF students, faculty and staff, and members of the local community. Though we have a limited budget and must adhere to strict guidelines, the Office of Community and Governmental Relations does provide room rental subsidies to nonprofit organizations that wish to use the Conference Center. Please click here for information about requesting a subsidy, or contact Yolande Salyer for more information.

In addition, Laurel Heights is home to a highly regarded child care center that serves faculty and staff at UCSF and the University of San Francisco, as well as members of the surrounding community.

For more information on Laurel Heights, contact Orlando Elizondo.

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UCSF Mission Bay is the newest link in a campus chain that connects virtually every San Francisco neighborhood. The 43-acre campus, located in the midst of a 303-acre residential and business development, will support 20 structures dedicated to biomedical research and education. The first research building, UCSF Genentech Hall, on the southwestern portion of the site bordering 16th Street, opened in January 2003.

From the community's standpoint, Mission Bay represents enormous opportunities for creative partnerships, employment, and cultural enrichment. For example, we expect the project to house 9,100 University employees, many of them in new jobs. This does not include jobs that may be created by the biotechnology and life sciences businesses that we expect to surround the campus.

The campus will also add to the cultural life of the neighborhood by reserving at least eight acres of publicly accessible open space, devoting one percent of the $1-2 billion in construction costs to a public arts program, and providing conference and recreational facilities for community members in addition to the campus community.

The Community Advisory Group (CAG), which was reconfigured to include members who live near Mission Bay, has been and continues to offer input on all stages of campus planning.

The UCSF Hospital Replacement Project concerns the future of UCSF Medical Center inpatient facilities. For further information please click here.

Mission Bay Campus Business Services Directory

In an effort to assist the Mission Bay campus community access goods and services nearby, the Community Partnerships Program held a vendor exhibit at Genentech Hall in July of 2004. Occupants of Genentech Hall and other Mission Bay buildings got a chance to meet local vendors and sample their wares. Feel free to contact these vendors in the link above if you can't find what you are looking for through Campus Life Services.

For more information about the Mission Bay Campus in gerneral, contact Barbara Bagot-López.

Click here for information about the UCSF Hospital Replacement Project.

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Built in 1897 on land originally contributed by Adolph Sutro, former mayor of San Francisco, the University of California, San Francisco includes the 107-acre Parnassus campus that is home to graduate professionals in dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy, a graduate division for predoctoral and postdoctoral scientists; UCSF Medical Center; UCSF Children's Hospital; and Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute. The Parnassus campus is located above Golden Gate Park in San Francisco's Inner Sunset District.

The UCSF Hospital Replacement Project concerns the future of UCSF Medical Center inpatient facilities. For further information please click here.

The Mount Sutro Open Space Reserve is a 61-acre forest that is part of a larger land parcel UCSF purchased in 1953. It sits on a hill south of UCSF's Parnassus campus. In 1973, in response to community concerns about campus expansion, the Regents designated 50 acres of Mount Sutro as an open reserve. In the ensuing years, the Regents have consistently reaffirmed their commitment to protecting Mount Sutro from development. In 1976 they expanded the reserve to 58 acres. A resurvey for the 1996 Long Range Development Plan (LRDP) expanded the reserve again, this time to 61 acres.

Nevertheless, for a long time the university had not adequately maintained the reserve, which is dominated by fast-growing eucalyptus trees. In the late 1990's, during the creation of the latest LDRP, UCSF's Community Advisory Group voiced concerns about Mount Sutro to UCSF officials.

The ensuing four years of consultations with various stakeholders, a CAG subcommittee, and environmental experts led to a Mount Sutro Management Plan.

If you would like to volunteer for work on Mount Sutro or would just like more information, contact Orlando Elizondo.

For more information, contact Orlando Elizondo.

Developing housing at Parnassus Campus: In close consultation with the UCSF Community Advisory Group (CAG), UCSF has been working on the campus Housing Master Plan, which calls for the construction of housing units at Parnassus Heights and Mission Bay to help address the campus housing need. Currently, UCSF houses only 14% of the student body, compared to the goal of 40%. Parnassus campus housing plans were generally described in the 1996 UCSF Long Range Development Plan (LRDP), which discussed reverting buildings currently used as offices back to residential use, either through renovation or replacement. In our discussions with neighbors, we have found that an overwhelming majority support UCSF's development of more housing.

145 Irving Street and 1308-10 Third Avenue
This seismically poor office building was demolished in 2000. The proposal is to use this lot in conjunction with the adjacent lot at 1308-10 Third Avenue to build housing after office uses are relocated and the building is demolished. The current proposal for Third and Irving includes: approximately 40 units (mostly studios, some two-bedrooms), no parking for cars, and ample bicycle parking. This building will be targeted to students and postdoctoral scholars without cars. We expect that building occupants as well as neighbors will take advantage of the convenient City CarShare program, which has placed some cars at our public parking garage next-door.

There have been strong opinions on all sides: some neighbors expressed a desire for plenty of parking spaces, others felt the fewer parking spaces, the better. Some neighbors felt that the proposed building was too large, while others considered it appropriate for the site. In response to neighbors' concerns about parking in the neighborhood, UCSF has requested that the DPT not issue Residential Parking Permits to these occupants.

374 Parnassus Avenue at Hillway Avenue
This seismically unsound office building located next door to the 8-story Ambulatory Care Center would be demolished and replaced with approximately 40 studio units, no parking spaces for cars, ample bicycle parking, and administrative space for housing support activities. This building will house UCSF hospital medical residents, who have access to the UCSF permit garage next-door.

UCSF has conducted four community meetings, including two community design sessions with the architectural firm of Michael Pyatok Architects, since the summer of 2002 regarding these two proposals. Two neighbors participated alongside UCSF staff and a student representative in the selection of this firm.

UCSF is working towards fulfilling the goal of providing affordable housing for more of our students, postdoctoral scholars and junior faculty. We are striving to balance our needs with the needs of our neighbors, whose concerns we take very seriously. In constructing housing on our campus, we are benefiting the campus and our neighbors by eliminating the need for the residents of these new facilities to commute to and from campus.

The planning process for these projects is currently delayed to allow time for staff and consultants to continue detailed financial analysis and soil/foundation studies.

1400 block of Fifth Avenue and 735 Parnassus
The 1996 LRDP, in addition to discussing office-to-residential conversions, also addressed converting UCSF houses on Fifth Avenue recently occupied by non-UCSF affiliated occupants to family housing for students or faculty. In addition, many of the buildings are in less than good condition, with many needing seismic upgrades, only one meeting ADA code requirements, and none fully up to code.

We met with Fifth Avenue neighbors in September 2002, and received a positive response to the proposal we presented. We revised previous proposals in response to neighbor feedback we received at a community meeting the previous year. We are still working through the financial information, and will keep you posted as we proceed with architect selection. Select this link to view the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Report for UCSF Parnassus Housing and Childcare.

If you are interested in learning more about the UCSF housing plans, please contact Barbara Bagot-López and she will make sure you are notified of related meetings and events.

Proposal for a Kirkham Child Care Center: UCSF is proposing to construct a new UCSF child care center in the vicinity of 24 and 30 Kirkham Street, near Fifth Avenue. This facility would replace the existing Marilyn Reed Lucia Center, which is located at Parnassus and Third Avenue. It is important for UCSF, as an educational institution and a family-friendly employer, to work to accommodate the child care needs of the parents working and studying on our campus.

In May 2001, UCSF Chancellor Michael Bishop appointed a committee to advise him on goals and actions to support the provision of quality affordable child care programs and services to the campus community. Parents responding to a UCSF child care survey indicated that over 550 infants, toddlers, and preschoolers need child care on campus near their work location–many more than can be currently served in the available UCSF campus child care capacity.

The committee recommended that UCSF develop additional high quality, affordable child care options at its major campus locations of Parnassus, Mission Bay and Laurel Heights. The Laurel Heights child care center is expanding this month from its current licensed capacity of 84 children to 108. A new child care center is opening at Mission Bay in January 2005 to care for 50-75 children initially, increasing in capacity to 100 children later that year.

The proposal for Parnassus is to care for 75-100 infants, toddlers, and preschoolers at a new Parnassus child care center, which could double the number of children being cared for at the existing Marilyn Reed Lucia Center. The building and yard would be built on the land currently occupied by 24 and 30 Kirkham Street (four units of UCSF faculty housing) and the adjacent 24-space parking lot.

The campus has conducted three meetings with neighbors to discuss this proposal and its potential impacts on the neighborhood. The project is moving forward with the selection of an architect and environmental review. A neighbor of the child care center site and a member of the UCSF Community Advisory Group participated in the selection of the architect in March 2004; the community will be included in the design review process. If you have any questions, or are interested in following the status of this project, please contact Barbara Bagot-López, and we will make sure you are notified of related meetings.

Parnassus Services Building: Some UCSF research - including work on cancer, AIDS, immunology, and diabetes - involves the humane and ethical use of animals. (The University is committed to standards of care established by the Association for the Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animals that ensure the safety and comfort of those animals.) Largely because the existing animal care facilities are not seismically safe and cannot economically be made so - and because they are not centralized - the University is building a new facility named the Parnassus Service Building (PSB).

The PSB will be a state-of-the-art animal care facility, located behind Moffit-Long Hospital, at the site of the old utility plant. It will be a five-story building and provide flexible space to accommodate the changing needs of our animal care program. The PSB was included in the final Environmental Impact Report for our 1996 Long Range Development Plan.

Construction began in February 2002 and is expected to be completed in September 2004. Construction hours will be from 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, with no noisy work beginning before 8:00 a.m. If weekend work is required, we will notify neighbors in advance.

For questions about Parnassus Services Building construction, contact Orlando Elizondo.

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Mount Zion Hospital was established in 1887 as a voluntary, nonprofit hospital to render "medical and surgical aid and service to the needy and distressed sick of the community...without regard to race or creed." In July of 1990 the Board of Directors of the Mount Zion Health Systems and the Regents of the University of California approved an integration which made Mount Zion part of the UCSF family. Today, Mount Zion is one of the four major teaching facilities of UCSF, along with the Moffitt-Long, San Francisco General, and VA Medical Center of San Francisco. UCSF Medical Center at Mount Zion is a hub for outpatient services including comprehensive diagnostic care, dermatology, general medicine, pediatric primary care and sports medicine as well as a surgery center and an urgent care center. It is also known for being home to the UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center, the Women's Health Center and the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine.

Perhaps the best known service at Mount Zion is the UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center, which has won the National Cancer Institute's highest designation -- "comprehensive" - for innovative research and cutting-edge patient care, both in-patient and out-patient. The center is dedicated to researching, diagnosing and treating many forms of the disease. A state-of-the-art, five-story outpatient center is part of this complex.

The Women's Health Center is dedicated to providing comprehensive care for women at every stage of life. Primary care, obstetrics and gynecology, and fertility and reproductive health are among the specialty services offered through the Center.

The Osher Center for Integrative Medicine seeks to blend the best practices from conventional and alternative medicine to serve patients. Doctors on staff draw from the best practices of both conventional and alternative medicine in addressing the needs of the patient. Acupuncture, herbal consultation and yoga and mindfulness classes are among the services offered by the Center.

The campus recently refurbished Herbst Hall and this auditorium will be hosting movies open to the public. Herbst Hall will also be the site for both day and evening lecture series.

There are a number of current planning issues that concern residents of the Mount Zion neighborhood. These include:

• Planning for an overall plan for the medical center and other campus activities at UCSF Mount Zion

• The request by members of the Community Advisory Group to find a format for discussing growth limits on UCSF in the Mount Zion neighborhood

• The request by members of the Mount Zion community that the campus take a close look at loading and unloading issues so that truck traffic congestion can be mitigated.

For more information about the UCSF Medical Center at Mount Zion, contact Orlando Elizondo.

The UCSF Hospital Replacement Project concerns the future of UCSF Medical Center inpatient facilities. For further information please click here.

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Other Affiliations & Locations

San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco Veteran Affairs Medical Center and UCSF Fresno are major branches of UCSF's School of Medicine and are dedicated to medical education and physician training programs, faculty practices and research.

SF General and UCSF: Partners in Public Health
San Francisco General Hospital

San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center

UCSF Fresno Medical Education Program