UC Riverside Is Expanding: Construction Begins On New $156.3M Building

RIVERSIDE, CA — The University of California, Riverside, campus is expanding ... again.

On Friday, officials held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new $156.3 million Undergraduate Teaching and Learning Facility. Once completed, the four-story-tall 100,700-square-foot building will have a seating capacity of approximately 1,700, and is slated to feature two lecture halls, 19 mid- to small-sized classrooms, six biology labs, four chemistry labs, and a dance studio with an outdoor performance area.

The new building will offer a learning environment for students' educational success, according to Ken Baerenklau, associate provost and chair of the project working group.

"When students come to learn in the UTLF, they will feel the same sense of pride and excellence that students feel at other top research universities across the country," he said. "Students will learn in modern, flexible classrooms that give our faculty a wide range of pedagogical options to choose from, including the ability to quickly reconfigure a large lecture into small group activity, and then back again."

The UTLF will be located at the westside campus entrance at Canyon Crest Drive where University Avenue ends. It's being built on the former Parking Lot 19, south of the UCR Soccer stadium.

In June, construction crews began preparing the site for construction, demolishing the asphalt surface of the parking lot pavement and digging to lay the foundation. They have also started grading the dirt and installing utility connections.

The next step will be to begin the major structural work for the new building, said senior project manager Sarah Sabera-Turab. The building design will feature brick, a concrete shear wall, metal grilles, and extensive clear glass. An outdoor plaza will knit together walkways around the building including links to the new North District student housing to the north and the heart of campus to the south.

As part of the project, the existing swimming pool area at the Athletics and Dance building will also be improved to include outdoor seating.

The new building, which the UC Regents approved in March, is expected to be completed by summer 2026. It's the second new campus project in three years devoted to increasing instructional space following the Student Success Center in 2021, which added 1,100 seats.