Vanderbilt University purchased the California College of the Arts building at 145 Hooper St. in the Potrero Hill neighborhood, where it plans to open a full-time campus in fall 2027, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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The campus will support 1,000 students as well as permanent faculty and staff, pending regulatory approvals.
The San Francisco Chronicle previously reported that Vanderbilt was eyeing property near Fifth and Mission streets.
The move is part of an aggressive national expansion plan, underscored with the hiring of Vanderbilt's inaugural vice chancellor of real estate in September 2025. The San Francisco satellite campus follows expansions in New York and Florida.
Vanderbilt began exploring West Palm Beach in April 2024, when billionaire developer and Related Ross CEO Stephen Ross launched a campaign to raise $300M for a campus. The university is advancing in New York after the state attorney general approved its lease at the 13-building, 150K SF General Theological Seminary in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood.
Vanderbilt joins a handful of other out-of-town universities setting up shop in San Francisco. Howard University announced a Bay Area expansion in October 2025, setting its sights on Oakland. The University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business announced it was considering a relocation in April 2025. It launched an artificial intelligence MBA program for the fall 2025 semester.
The announcement signals success for Mayor Daniel Lurie’s push to attract universities to San Francisco in an initiative designed to juice the city's economic recovery.
In May 2024, then-Mayor London Breed issued a call for historically Black colleges and universities to consider satellite campuses in the city as part of her “30x30” initiative to bring 30,000 students and residents to the area by 2030.
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