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Wednesday, July 17, 2024

Interpretation

A few days ago, the Daily Bruin ran an article about UCLA's recent real estate purchases. Excerpt:

...In September 2022, UCLA purchased the former Marymount University Campus in Rancho Palos Verdes with plans to use the land as UCLA’s South Bay campus to increase enrollment and for research purposes, according to the university. In an emailed statement, Andrea Kasko and Christina Christie, co-chairs of the Joint Task Force on the Academic Mission of UCLA Campus Expansion, said the Palos Verdes purchase presented multiple research opportunities. For example, its location near the port of LA, an ecosystem with unique flora and fauna, makes it suitable for urban ocean-focused research, Kasko and Christie said in the statement.

“Its proximity to the port of Los Angeles connects the campus to the global economy, and labor practices and movements in related economies and could present research opportunities to UCLA faculty, staff and students studying global economies, labor studies, the blue and green economies and related areas,” Kasko and Christie said in the statement.

[EVC Darnell] Hunt added the process of purchasing the South Bay property also included negotiations with the former Marymount California University and presenting a layout of what UCLA’s plan would look like for the now-shut-down university campus. The process also involved consideration of how to finance the purchase, given the high cost of buying land in California.

The former college campus cost UCLA $80 million, according to the LA Times. The purchase was financed with general revenue bonds, a type of loan issued by the government. These loans are commonly used by institutions to finance large public projects and are paid back over time through income generated by the project...

Full story at https://dailybruin.com/2024/07/09/uclas-expansions-across-los-angeles-present-opportunities-for-research-community.

An unkind interpretation of the above is that it's been almost two years since the Marymount purchase, and yet nobody has the foggiest idea of what to do with this inaccessible expensive property.

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