A seven-story student housing project planned for the corner of Ellsworth Street and Channing Way, just two blocks south of the UC Berkeley campus, has secured $24 million in construction financing. The 49-unit development is expected to include 166 beds and is scheduled for delivery in 2028.
According to Yield PRO, the loan was arranged by commercial real estate firm Northmarq, whose San Francisco debt and equity team was led by Briana Dehaan and Brandy Buttram. The project's sponsor is Srihari Vegesna, who thanked Northmarq and the lender for their confidence in the project and said Berkeley students deserve quality housing close to campus, adding that his team can deliver it. Vegesna assembled an experienced local fee developer, Bright Street, along with a proven general contractor, to carry out the build.
Dehaan said lenders are willing to support the right opportunities even in the current market, while Buttram said well-located properties serving UC Berkeley attract capital providers seeking exposure to a high-barrier-to-entry market with strong enrollment and durable housing demand. The financing reportedly included a competitive rate and structure, and the bank lender was described as having confidence in the project's execution.
What's Actually Being Built
Plans reviewed before a Zoning Adjustments Board meeting last October called for a mix of five studios, seven two-bedroom units, 12 three-bedroom units and 25 four-bedroom units, according to San Francisco YIMBY. That outlet reported the project is expected to total roughly 49,900 square feet, with a ground-floor amenity space and common outdoor rooftop decks, and listed Studio KDA as the project applicant and architect. Building the project requires demolishing two existing structures on the site, which date to 1939 and 1947.
City of Berkeley records show the Zoning Adjustments Board's October 2025 agenda identified the matter as Use Permit #ZP2024-0169, tied to demolition of an existing structure at the site, though the available minutes do not establish the board's final action on the application.
A Shifting Scope Over Time
The project's description has evolved. A 2024 report from the San Francisco Business Times described a seven-story, nearly 50,000-square-foot apartment building pitched for the site, while a separate 2024 report from The Real Deal described the proposal as a 63-unit apartment complex replacing an existing medical office. The latest financing announcement and the 2025 planning materials instead describe a 49-unit, 166-bed student housing development, and the dossier does not explain the reason for that change in unit count.
Berkeley's Tight Housing Market
The financing arrives amid a broader push to add housing near campus. Berkeley zoning changes have allowed buildings up to 12 stories in the South Side neighborhood specifically to address a housing shortage for students and faculty, per The Real Deal. Those zoning changes nearly doubled development potential in the area, allowing for an additional 2,652 homes, the outlet reported. Two blocks from the Ellsworth site, preliminary plans have also been filed for a 20-story, 117-unit apartment tower at 2425 Durant Avenue.
Market data from JLL shows Berkeley's rental vacancy rate has stayed below 5%, with annual rent growth of 3.5% since 2018 — conditions that help explain lender appetite for projects like this one. Student housing remains an attractive asset class for many lenders because of specialized demand and persistent housing shortages near major universities, per the Yield PRO report. That dynamic was on display at The Valiant, a nearby 83-unit, 265-bed project that had leased 98% of its market-rate beds before the 2026-27 school year began.
UC Berkeley's Own Building Boom
The private development comes as UC Berkeley works through its own housing crunch. The university currently houses about 29% of its 33,000 undergraduates, according to Berkeley News, and it carries the lowest housing ratio in the entire University of California system at about 21 beds for every 100 students. Beginning with the class that entered this fall, UC Berkeley guarantees two years of on-campus housing to incoming freshmen, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
UC Berkeley has added more than 2,400 beds across four new housing developments since 2018, and two additional projects now in construction or development are expected to add more than 2,700 more beds, according to the university's housing office. Those include the Bancroft-Fulton project, a planned 23-story complex with roughly 1,625 beds also targeting a summer 2028 completion, and the Judith E. Heumann House, an 11-story, 1,100-bed complex expected to open in fall 2027.
Once complete, the Ellsworth Street property is meant to give residents walkable access to UC Berkeley academic facilities, student-oriented retail and dining, and regional transit throughout the Bay Area. Northmarq describes itself as one of the largest privately held commercial real estate firms in the country, with more than 50 offices nationwide, a loan servicing portfolio exceeding $80 billion, and $91.3 billion in transactions completed over the past four years.
