The former UC Hastings, which now goes by the awkward moniker University of California College of the Law San Francisco or UC Law SF, is making an attempt to rebrand the Tenderloin too, with a $229 million, 656-unit graduate student housing complex slated to open this summer.

The prestigious downtown SF law school UC Hastings finally reckoned with its founder’s troublesome past and changed its name to College of the Law San Francisco in July 2022. They’ve apparently settled on the snappier abbreviation UC Law SF (though their website is still on a UC Hastings URL).

The school made waves in the Tenderloin during the pandemic by suing the city over the prevalence of encampments, and being a law school, their legal threats worked and got nearly 400 people off the streets and housed in shelter-in-place hotels.

Now the law school is changing the Tenderloin in another way, as KRON4 reports they’ll be bringing a $229 million, 656-unit graduate student housing complex to the neighborhood. The complex, which has been under construction for a couple of years, will be called Academe 198, a reference to its 198 McAllister Street address, which was formerly classrooms.

The Chronicle reports that the remodeled building is 14 stories tall. That paper adds that “One-third of the apartments — about 230 — will be master-leased by UCSF,” and that “The rest of them will be available not only to UC Law SF students, but also to students from UC Berkeley, San Francisco State University, University of San Francisco and the University of the Pacific Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry.” There are additional plans for some ground-floor retail in the mix as well.

“This particular building is 656 units of housing as well as three levels of academic space, classrooms, large auditorium, community-serving retail,” UC Law SF CFO David Seward told KRON4.

So out of curiosity, what’s the rent? KRON4 reports that “Rent in the new building starts at $1,850 per month for 232 square feet and goes up to $3,400 for a two-bedroom.”

It’s a bet on revitalizing the Tenderloin, and it’s not the school’s only one. They’re also promising a $90 million renovation and build-out of the adjacent 200 McAllister tower, which is also currently student housing.

In a happy coincidence, the district’s now-supervisor Dean Preston is a UC Hastings/UC Law SF alumnus. “I’m an alum who spent many hours in the former 198 McAllister building earning my law degree,” Preston told KRON4. “I had the pleasure of touring the development site recently, and I am excited for the opening of this student housing in the neighborhood.”

According to its website, “The Academe at 198 opens in late Summer 2023.”

Related: UC Hastings to Be Renamed the Rather Awkward 'College of the Law San Francisco' [SFist]

Image: Academe198SF