Is UC Santa Barbara’s Dormzilla DOA?

[Update: Tue., Oct. 31, 2023, 2:45pm] Regarding Munger Hall, UCSB spokesperson Kiki Reyes confirmed on Tuesday that “the campus is moving forward with a separate student housing project in order to meet our LRDP targets of 3,500 additional beds. We anticipate that this project will be funded with traditional debt financing.”

[Original story] Though UC Santa Barbara is unwilling to confirm it, Munger Hall may be dead. In an update last week on student housing, the university indicated that two architectural firms were hired to “expand on-campus residential housing for our undergraduate students” by 3,500 beds. At the website the message refers to, the spot where 2,250 of those beds are destined had been reserved for Munger Hall — a highly controversial, 11-story, virtually windowless dormitory, dubbed Dormzilla, that billionaire philanthropist Charlies Munger insisted on designing himself and had promised $200 million toward the estimated $1.6 billion cost.

The location currently holds the school’s Facilities Management buildings on the edge of the Goleta Slough and overlooking the Santa Barbara Municipal Airport. A year ago, the Daily Nexus reported that two floors had been removed from the design, which was excoriated by the school’s Academic Senate that November out a concern for residents’ “physical safety, psychological well-being, and comfort” considering the “small and windowless bedrooms … [and] extraordinary population density” of 4,500 students.

UCSB’s Housing Development webpage lists the Facilities Management site —which had been reserved for Munger Hall — as Phase 1 of a new multi-phase plan to “expand on-campus residential housing for our undergraduate students” by 3,500 beds. | Credit: Courtesy

The number 3,500 is significant as both the City of Goleta and the County of Santa Barbara have sued the university for breaking agreements reached as part of UCSB’s Long-Range Development Plan. With housing in extremely short supply and seriously expensive, the university had stated it would add that many student beds, as well as additional faculty and staff housing, before the undergraduate population surpassed 25,000, which the lawsuits allege happened in 2021-2022. The university disputed the number. Neither the county nor Goleta would comment on ongoing litigation.

UCSB’s Housing Development webpage lists the Facilities Management site as Phase 1, planned for opening in fall 2027. Phase 2 is intended to add to existing residence halls on east campus. UCSB’s Public Affairs office did not respond by deadline to requests to confirm the fate of Munger Hall.