SPI Insights

California – The city and county of San Francisco and University of California San Francisco (UCSF) reached a memorandum of understanding on a set of community benefits for the university’s Parnassus Heights Plan that will incorporate a new hospital, additional campus housing, transit improvements, and workforce training opportunities.

Slated to open in 2030, the new hospital will replace the existing, nearly 70-year-old Moffitt Hospital, which does not meet the state’s seismic code and must be decommissioned by 2030. The new facility will allow the University to increase the UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center’s inpatient capacity by 42 percent and the Emergency Department by nearly 80 percent. Other outdated and seismically vulnerable buildings will be replaced with state-of-the-art facilities to strengthen research and training programs.

UCSF will double its existing housing inventory by adding 1,263 new housing units on and off campus over the life of the project. UCSF will add at least 632 of these net new units by the hospital’s projected opening.

The university will contribute over $20 million to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) to support improvements to transit serving Parnassus Heights. UCSF and the SFMTA will work together to offer alternatives to car travel and reduce car use, accommodate safe and usable access for all travel modes, and to expand transit capacity and service, including collaboration towards accommodating three-car trains on the N-Judah light rail line.

To promote neighborhood walkability, the project will feature streetscape improvements such as stop upgrades, enhanced lighting, and integrated planning for Parnassus Avenue to accommodate transit, curb management, and pedestrian safety.