Pepperdine plans to open branch campus in Calabasas





Pepperdine University has received permission from the City of Calabasas to establish a satellite campus in the city.

The Calabasas Planning Commission approved a request Oct. 15 to convert a vacant 107,000-square-foot commercial office building on Agoura Road into a campus that will include classrooms, operational departments, and a community and family therapy clinic.

The building at 26750 Agoura Road was previously occupied by Spirent Communications.

“Pepperdine looks forward to becoming an enduring part of the Calabasas community,” said Rhiannon Bailard, assistant vice-president of governmental and regulatory affairs for the university. “While we have several campuses across Southern California, this is one that we’re excited about,” she told The Acorn in an email.

According to a city report, the satellite campus in Calabasas will serve the equivalent of 600 full-time students.

The university plans to lease the site for at least 10 years. The lease will be renewable in five-year increments.

Operational and administrative transitions will begin in early 2016, and some classes could begin in fall of that year. Long-term programming would not begin until 2018.

Hours of operation will be from 6 a.m. to midnight, with classes typically taking place between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m.

In addition to using the existing kitchen, dining area and fitness facilities, the university will reconfigure the interior of the building for classrooms, offices and the clinic. No exterior changes are planned.

The new site is suited to the needs of students, Bailard said, adding that the building is “at a perfect location in a fantastic community.”

The therapy clinic will give graduate psychology students, under the supervision of a licensed psychologist or therapist, an opportunity to provide counseling services and psychological testing to residents.

The campus will also include a student center that will provide support and tutorial services for individual students and groups.

The building is surrounded by offices and is across the street from the Summit shopping center. It sits on a hill about 30 feet above the Horizons at Calabasas senior housing on Malibu Hills Road.

Planning commissioners evaluated the proposal to ensure that parking and traffic concerns were addressed and that the residents of Horizons would not be affected by activities at the campus.

There will be no sports fields, auditoriums or amphitheaters that might create traffic and noise at the site.

According to the applicant, students and professors would bring business to nearby shops and restaurants, and the university would create collaboration between the city and the school that would increase job opportunities and partnerships with local school districts and companies.

After a brief discussion, commissioners voted unanimously to approve the new campus with a few minor conditions. They also encouraged Pepperdine to partner with community groups and the city on sustainability efforts.



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