San Francisco in Talks With Vanderbilt for Downtown Campus
The negotiations, which were reported earlier on Monday by the San Francisco Chronicle, are part of a longtime plan by the city to fill downtown vacancies with university campuses. For Vanderbilt, San Francisco would provide another outpost as it continues to expand beyond its home campus in Nashville.
'We recognize the long-term global leadership of San Francisco and its ever-growing potential, defined by a vibrant culture, dynamic innovation ecosystem and the talent drawn to its leading technology companies and top-caliber arts and cultural institutions,' John O'Brien, a spokesperson for the university, said in a statement.
Lurie and Vanderbilt declined to comment on the progress of the negotiations or provide details about the potential school.
A new satellite campus could draw more economic activity to San Francisco's urban core, which has been slower to recover from pandemic closures than other cities. London Breed, Lurie's predecessor, proposed establishing a branch of a historically Black university downtown as part of an initiative to reinvigorate the area and draw more residents.
Bringing a Vanderbilt campus to San Francisco 'would bring new energy and foot traffic downtown, and we will continue working to make that happen,' Lurie said in a statement.
Vanderbilt has been on an expansion streak, announcing plans last year to build hubs in New York City and Florida. In September, the university said it would enter a lease with a seminary to establish a 13-building campus in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood. A month earlier, the school proposed a $520 million expansion into West Palm Beach, Florida.
Vanderbilt wouldn't be the first elite school to branch out to San Francisco. The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania established a presence there in 2001, hosting its first cohort of MBA students.
--With assistance from Janet Lorin.
(Adds Wharton School in final paragraph)
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