Architectural School Leases Downtown Building

SAN DIEGO-Woodbury University has signed a long-term lease for a 33,000-sf building that will serve as the new home for its rapidly growing San Diego architecture program.

Students will begin classes at the site at 1060 8th Ave. when the fall semester starts on Aug. 29, according to officials for the Burbank-based institution. Terms of the transaction were not immediately available.

Woodbury’s new four-story campus is near the Gaslamp Quarter. The school established the San Diego program in 1998 at the Naval Training Center, now slated for a redevelopment project that includes a waterfront park, hotel and housing.

“Woodbury is extremely pleased to find a home in such an architecturally rich area of San Diego,” says President Kenneth R. Nielsen.

The San Diego campus will undergo renovation over the next year to create larger design studios. The 8th Avenue building constructed in 1981 also offers plenty of space for future growth in enrollment, Woodbury officials say.

The 117-year-old Woodbury, one of the oldest institutions in Southern California, has more than 1,400 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate courses. A San Diego campus was established in 1998 to offer bachelor of architecture degrees.