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Huge modular housing complex coming to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

April 29, 2025

By KAREN VELIE

In an attempt to address the affordable housing crisis, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is in the process of developing what is slated to be the nation’ largest modular housing development.

In order to increase the student body from 22,000 to 25,000 by 2030, the university needed additional student housing. Campus administration is now working with FullStack Modular, a company that is constructing modular housing units at its factory in Los Angeles County.

The university is planning to add more than 4,200 suite-style units over the next five years at an estimated cost of $1.2 billion.

Crews are currently preparing the site and constructing foundations for nine buildings – of seven to 12 stories. Workers plan to start stacking the units in September.

The first building, with about 500 units, is expected to be completed by Fall 2026.

“Affordable housing is such a big problem, especially on the West Coast,” said Mike McCormick,  vice president of facilities management and development at Cal Poly. “We’ve assembled a team of professionals committed to rethinking how we deliver housing, and FullStack Modular’s innovative approach is a huge part of that. It’s a solution that not only meets Cal Poly’s needs but is transportable to other housing projects across the country.”

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For those who don’t know there are two Cal Poly’s in SLO, there is the State University and there is the Foundation which operates under different rules and generates lots of funding. Will this development be a Foundation enterprise fund that competes with the general public or under the CSU housing department? Will the City of San Luis Obispo handle this additional sewage too? Personally, I have a problem with a state institution that regulates itself competing with the general public. Maybe a school can be construction in the country that the majority of lucrative foreign students come from?


6

My first reaction is that this is way too much, and just more ugly buildings that are in your face. Cal Poly is becoming too big. Keep it below 20k students.


30

7 to 12 stories, modular? should be lovely… Ever been to Trader Joe’s? Every time I go there’s 10-15 young adults standing in aisles looking at their phones. I just realized I sound just like my Dad did 50 years ago…


23

Could be a misprint regarding 12 stories. From what I have read from other sources it will be 9 buildings that range from 8 stories to 9 stories. Not a huge difference, but just thought I would mention I think that is an error.


3

If SLO City provides fire protection service on campus via a contract, does our city fire department have sufficient equipment to protect students living in such tall buildings in a fire situation? If not, who will pay for the needed equipment and manpower?


30

California State Universities were designed for a student population of 14-16K if I’m not mistaken. This is absurd. The high number anticipated likely reflects a dropout rate.


25

Cal Poly has been around for over a 100 years, it certainly wasn’t designed for such a size back then. Its grown as the community has grown.

But putting that aside, Cal Poly had an enrollment of 15k when it was renamed an SU in the early 1970s, back then the state population was 20 million people, today the state population is almost 40 million; it makes sense that our state universities should be capable of accommodating more residents when there are more residents over time. It doesn’t have to grow one for one (it isn’t), but we don’t want universities being excessively exclusive due to population growth.


-4

The Cal Poly student body should be reduced to under 20,000, not expanded. Where is the Environmental Impact Report for this leviathan project? Where are the detailed analysis on impacts to SLO City, traffic, water consumption, burden on infrastructure and services, and the impacts on campus/city quality of life. This project of multiple seven and eight-story residential structures will be the largest housing complex in SLO County. These prominent towering eyesores will be perched at the highest elevations of any structures on campus and will dominate the landscape for many northern SLO neighborhoods. I can remember when environmentalists and city planners were concerned about “viewsheds” and site compatibility. I guess those old fashion notions of aesthetics and minimal environmental impact have been replaced in SLO with the derelict SoCal values oriented around growth, congestion, money and blight.


41

This seems to me like the ludicrously excessive bureaucracy and red tape that has made California such a difficult state to live in.


I will admit I believe in growth, among the biggest problems in this state is that there is a consensus among the nimbys and radical woke leftists to fight private and public construction which has understandably lead people to flee to more free states like Texas, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Development is the opposite of blight.


I believe in the more old fashioned notion of building things in America, not squashing construction under the boot of excessive socialistic government like you propose.


-1

The incessant whining is unreal. Cal Poly is what made SLO, not vice versa.


-3

Sweet deal for Cal Poly – Taxpayers fund a billion dollar build and the University gets in the housing and rental game deeper. 22,000 to 25,000 students…You think the traffic and parking is bad now?

As for the “ housing crisis” , isn’t it apparent that there is not, nor will there ever be “affordable housing “ in this area. Anything even remotely resembling that would be gobbled up overnight by somebody with bucks.

The quality of life in SLO can only decline from here. Bigger ain’t better.


65

It totally depends on what you mean by affordable housing, if you mean going back to $200 a month rent, you’re right that’ll never happen. But to me affordable means being able to buy a reasonable starter home for less than $1 million – which is the current average in SLO.


The average family should be able to afford an average sized and cost home, historically that was possible, the “crisis” is that over the last 10-20 years it’s becoming impossible. Without homes closer to say 400-500k, more and more local working people are going to leave because the only way they can afford to live in SLO is if they put all of their income into rent or a mortgage making them poor. Then you’ll get a town that is just a vacation/retirement community for LA and SF millionaires.


5

Nearly half the cost of a new home, are taxes, fees, regulated costs, environmental costs, mandated material costs, mandated items (solar etc), and massive “union only” wages (but they will still use immigrant workers), and fees to file the fees.


My Dad, along with nearly all the new neighbors, built their Couper Drive homes. They built them, with logical help from local plumbers and electricians, themselves. No unions, no massive fees, and little to no taxes because they built them, not some state required contractor. While they are “Levitt” homes, each house on that little street is uniquely different.


Today, my old house will market nearly $500,000.


15

It sounds like we agree, all the costs you describe are huge contributors to the crazy increase in housing prices.


Other than the simplest safety codes people should be able to build want they want, when they want, with who they want, on their private property. If I want to add an extra floor, or build a granny unit, or convert my garage into an office or little barber shop, that’s my right. Neighbors and certainly the government shouldn’t be able to say no, and they certainly shouldn’t be so many strings and fees attached it’s practically impossible.


1

Lol, union in residential?? You have no effin clue. It’s mainly wetback labor.


1

Simple solution. Move to a lovely redhat state if you hate living in the best state in the country.


-3

I’m so over Cal Poly. They have helped to kill the charm that SLO once had. Colleges have become a business that put young and unemployed kids into deep debt, and it is evident now that having a college degree guarantees less success in life than it once did. Cal Poly is a business that only looks after its own, it’s all about money, hence higher allowed enrollment. Make it stop, please.


58

Cal Poly has been around for 124 years and I don’t remember a time when the towns people didn’t complain about students. In my day (late 60’s) they wanted to close down the bars to students. The college is the main reason that SLO has been so successful over the years.


And, study after study has shown that a college education means a higher standard of living when compared to a high school or vocational school education only, so I’m not sure what you’re talking about. In most cases, a college grad makes at least 50% more in their lifetime than someone without that degree. And advanced degree holders can see upwards of 80% more. Look it up.


-28

Also, Armstrong has been a really bad President for Cal Poly. Under his leadership most of the Universities colleges have declined in reputation. He is all about DEI agendas and is about to go speak before congress about Cal Poly’s antisemitism problem.. I didn’t know there was one.


7

I agree 100+% that more affordable housing is needed. It looks to me like a good portion of the modular housing will be built on existing parking lots. Parking at Cal Poly continues to be more and more difficult for staff, faculty and students so now it will be even worse. And parking is not free on the Cal Poly campus. Not everyone can use public transportation to get to campus and parking by the dairy unit and walking a mile or more to your job/class is just wrong. What if an employee/student has an emergency and needs to immediately leave campus?


23

Cry us a river.


-48

A huge side effect of adding more housing to campus is that students who previously lived off campus and needed to bring a car to school now don’t have to – living on campus means they can walk to class and there will be much more parking for staff and faculty. A double win


Also when I was a poor student I couldn’t imagine the luxury of bringing a car to school. I walked, took the bus, and spent a lot of time in the library – not driving around. If there was an emergency I could always call the campus clinic or 911, if I suddenly needed to leave town there was always the train. It wasn’t worth the payments, gas, insurance, repairs for a car when I was spending summer paycheck money on the cheapest food and expensive required textbooks.


-15

They will probably double the width of all bike lanes…


23

I’m for that. In fact, let’s eliminate car traffic entirely on Marsh. Make it for bikers and walkers only, like many European towns.


-40

Unfortunately I can’t agree, I believe first Monterey between Chorro and Santa Rosa should be closed, then Higuera all the way down to Nipomo. It’ll have less impact and more benefit.

Also we don’t even need to look across the Atlantic, they did it in Santa Barbara and Ventura!


-30

Downtown State St. businesses are struggling, due to the lack of pedestrian and vehicle traffic, while the businesses south of the 101, are doing very well.


The Arlington and Granada theaters have not been full since before the scamdemic. The Arlington is now hosting weddings, and currently showing re-runs of Star Wars movies….and not the good ones.


25

I think we have different experiences, Everytime I’ve visited those businesses seem to be doing well and the place is a lot more alive. Much nicer than when it was practically a jammed highway.


Nothing wrong with a business playing old movies and using their space for weddings. The problem with movie theaters isn’t the street, it’s the ubiquity of 75in TVs at home and Netflix, you’ll still find me there though.


-10