The University of California has contracted to purchase property on Rhode Island Avenue off Scott Circle in Washington, D.C., to build a center for students and faculty, to house its federal relations office and expand its public service as an intellectual and research resource for federal legislators and policy makers.

UC and developer Charles E. Smith Cos. have filed an application to the District of Columbia Zoning Commission for approval of a planned unit development that will include residential apartments, office space, and classrooms on the property.

The site, which is now a parking lot located at 1616 Rhode Island Ave., is across the street from the statue of Daniel Webster and near the headquarters of the Brookings Institution, Johns Hopkins University International Studies Center and the National Geographic Society.

The center will allow UC to consolidate under one roof all of its Washington-based programs, which are now scattered at throughout the capital as well as provide residential housing for students and faculty.

"The primary mission of the UC Center is to use the unique resources and opportunities of the capital to expand and enrich programs for UC students and faculty, and to enhance our federal relations and public service activities," said UC President Richard C. Atkinson. "This new building will give UC an opportunity to expand those programs in Washington."

The 26-member UC Board of Regents approved purchasing the property last November, but the final purchase will not be concluded until the District of Columbia Zoning Commission acts on UC’s application later this year. Regents must also approve the final construction plans before the project goes forward.

Enivisioned is a 147,000-square-foot, 11-story building to be built at an estimated cost of $31 million, including the purchase of the property. The center will contain 82 apartment units, as well as offices and classrooms. Construction is scheduled to begin in mid-1999, with the building slated to open in 2001.

Cost of the Washington Center will be financed from a combination of housing fees charged to students who will reside in the facility and funds available to the Office of the President that are not generated from state sources or student fees. The cost will also be offset by the planned sale of a townhouse on New Hampshire Avenue that now houses UC’s Federal Government Relations Office.

The property on Rhode Island Avenue was selected because it met UC’s key development criteria: Project deliverability, feasibility and reasonable cost. A location accessible to Capitol Hill, the federal offices where UC students serve as interns, and Washington historical and cultural sites. Proximity to public transportation, including Washington’s Metro subway system. Amenities, including convenient shopping and restaurants and the YMCA. And, a safe neighborhood for students, faculty and staff.

UC formally established an academic program in Washington in 1990, although campuses have conducted intern and teaching programs in the capital for more than 30 years.

In the last eight years more than 2,000 students have participated in a variety of activities, including internships in federal agencies and other organizations which concentrate on public policy issues. Currently, six campuses -- Berkeley, Davis, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz and San Diego -- send nearly 200 students annually to programs conducted through the Washington Center.

UC Irvine is developing programs in the near future for its students at the Center, and UC Riverside students participate in internships in Washington not directly tied to center programs. The graduate programs, in which some 140 students have taken part, are designed for pre-doctoral research, and include teaching assistantships in such areas as political science, law, human development, medicine, physics and international agricultural development.

A total of 149 faculty have participated in the residence program, teaching undergraduates. Last year, the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation at UC San Diego launched the center’s first research program for faculty and students in international affairs. The center has also taken advantage of distance learning technologies such as satellite transmission and video conferencing to beam Washington-based courses and seminars back to home campuses.

Live interviews have been conducted by students in Washington and California with notable national figures as House Speaker Newt Gringrich, U.S. Ambassador to South African Princeton Lyman and Washington Post columnist David Broder

UC faculty and research associates are frequently called upon by Congress and federal agencies to lend their expertise on matters under study for possible legislative action or policy making. Recent subjects that UC researchers have reported and testified about included tobacco, AIDS, the effect of television violence on children, and the federal role in funding university research.

Also housed in the building will be UC’s Office of Federal Government Relations, which is charged with representing the interests of all nine campuses and the UC-managed laboratories before Congress, the White House and federal agencies.

The office monitors federal legislation, regulations and policy issues of importance to the university and advocates on behalf of UC’s interests. As the university’s external relations arm in Washington, the office also maintains contact with more than 11,000 UC alumni and supporters in the greater Washington area.

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