The 2009 "Toolbox" Report and the Japanese Garden (& Other Issues)

Given the ongoing budget crisis, UCLA formed a task force to look at various revenue-generating options.  The report of the task force is dated April 24, 2009.  Among the possibilities considered was the sale of various properties including the Japanese Garden.  The report indicates that consultations with the state Attorney General were underway well before the 2010 court decision that permitted the sale, even though it was inconsistent with the existing terms of the donation.


The report explores other areas such as faculty pay, fund raising, "branding," and tuition.  You can read the full report at the link below (scroll towards the bottom of this post.


Below is the Table of Contents.  Below that is the section on the Japanese Garden:

I. Task Force Charge and Process p. 1

II. Principles for Review of Revenue Creation Proposals p. 2

III. Summary of Recommendations p. 4

IV. Major Issues and Recommendations

                    Student Fees p. 6

                    Enrollment of Nonresident Undergraduates p. 14

                    Development of New Academic Programs & Services p. 15

                    Research Funding p. 19

                    Faculty Compensation Plan p. 21

                    Brand Extension Licensing p. 23

                    Fundraising Opportunities p. 25

                    Sale of Underutilized Property p. 27

Appendix A: UCLA Approval Process for Revenue-Generating

Courses and Programs p. 30

Appendix B: Revenue Generating Course and Programs

Administrative Guide p. 34

Appendix C: Guidelines for endowed chairs p. 36

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Task Force Membership:

• Kathryn Atchison, Vice Provost for Intellectual Property and Industry Relations
• Hilu Bloch, Associate Dean & CAO, Anderson Graduate School of Management
• Robin Garrell, Professor and Vice Chair, Academic Senate
• Janina Montero, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
• Sam Morabito, Administrative Vice Chancellor
• Steven A. Olsen, Vice Chancellor, Finance, Budget & Capital Programs (chair)
• No-Hee Park, Dean, School of Dentistry
• Cathy Sandeen, Dean, University Extension
• Michael Schill, Dean, School of Law
• Rhea Turteltaub, Vice Chancellor, External Affairs
• David Unruh, Assistant Provost, Academic Program Development
• Kang Wang, Professor, School of Engineering and Applied Science

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Section on Japanese Garden

From pp. 27-28:

The Carter Estate:

The Carter Estate, located at 626 Siena Way, Bel Air, about one mile from campus, is situated on 0.85 acres and includes a two story residence and an adjacent guest house in approximately 7300 gross square feet. The house was vacated by Mrs. Carter in early 2006. The house, which has remained vacant since Mrs. Carter’s departure, is currently being managed by UCLA Asset Management.

In June, 2007, the value of this property was appraised at $9,000,000. The University is free to sell this property (via a competitive public bid process) but the proceeds must fund seven endowments specified by Mr. Carter including endowed chairs in the College, Anderson and the School of Medicine, a maintenance endowment for the Japanese Gardens, the establishment of an art history research center in the College, a student awards fund for Anderson and a discretionary fund for the director of the Jules Stein Eye Institute. In 2006, the estimate of the amount needed to fund the corpus for these endowments was $4.7 million. As such, the net proceeds from the sale of the home would be net of the $4.7 million.

The Japanese Gardens:

The UCLA Hannah Carter Japanese Garden and the UCLA Carter House (described above) were, prior to December 1964 part of a single parcel of approximately 1.94 acres. In 1964 the Gardens portion of the site was separated from the Carter House portion. The 1964 grant deed transferring the property to the Regents was amended in 1982 with the requirement that the University names the garden for Mrs. Carter and retain it in perpetuity. 

Significant research has been completed on the process (via the California Attorney General) required to remove the restriction on the Garden so that the University could then sell the property. We are advised that it would be possible to remove the restriction but the outcome is not certain. And, there would likely be some political ramifications from various groups about the sale of the Gardens as a potential building site.

In 2007, the MAI appraisal indicates a value of $5.7 million if the property can be sold without the deed restriction to maintain it as the Gardens and $3.4 million with the restriction intact.

The combined value of selling both the Carter House and the Gardens (with the restriction on the Gardens in place) was $12.5 million. The value of the combined properties without restrictions was estimated in 2007 at $14.7 million. Of course property values since 2007 have declined, thus an updated appraisal would be required to ascertain the current value of these properties.

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Link to report:

Open publication - Free publishing - More branding

It is not known how much time was spent by the Task Force specifically on the Japanese Garden issue.  During the period in which the task force operated, UCLA had a website for the garden which has since been taken down.  However, you can see the website as it was - and as it was available to the task force at:
http://web.archive.org/web/20100815093728/http://www.japanesegarden.ucla.edu/