Frequently Asked Questions

Berkeley Space Center is a proposed, 36-acre innovation center and hub where academia, private industry and government come together to identify, incubate and launch tomorrow’s technological breakthroughs. Berkeley Space Center’s master plan envisions a development consisting of 1.4 million square feet, subject to environmental reviews under CEQA and NEPA. The actual leasable space will depend on the final translation of the master plan and environmental approvals. The development looks to accelerate and expand the Bay Area’s innovation ecosystem, catalyzing advancements across diverse sectors – from aeronautics and quantum computing to climate studies and the social sciences.

Darek DeFreece, the founder and executive director of Berkeley Space Center entered into conversations with NASA leadership in 2018 with the intent to explore a presence for the university at the NASA Ames Research Park. Campus leadership quickly coalesced around an idea to build an innovation center where NASA, UC and private industry could cohabitate, generate mutual ideas and interest, and spur new innovation. In 2019, a faculty steering committee, led by Dean Emeritus Gordon Rausser, produced a report identifying and supporting the potential of the two organizations coming together in a meaningful way at the site.

UC Berkeley announced its plans to explore a potential venture to redevelop a portion of Moffett Field into a mixed-use research and education site. It selected SKS Partners as its joint venture partner and negotiated a ground lease with NASA at an arm’s length basis. The ground lease was executed in 2020. The terms of the joint venture were finalized in 2022.

Separately the campus deepened its relationship with NASA by signing a Space Act Agreement, setting the stage for future collaboration between the campus and NASA Ames.

UC Berkeley intends to occupy a portion of the site to further advance the university’s tripartite mission of teaching, research and public service.

In addition to teaching admitted students at Berkeley Space Center in disciplines such as engineering, law, policy and social science, UC Berkeley will also seek strong community engagement through extension courses and executive education. Separately, it is possible that the university will conduct joint activities and research with NASA and private industry in fields of research designed to advance human knowledge in topics as diverse as aerospace, aviation, astrobiology, quantum computing, data, AI, policy, law and the arts.

We believe that the research done at Berkeley Space Center will inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs to form new companies from technology discovered at the site. We expect these early stage companies to remain on-site and benefit from the proximity to faculty, researchers and students.

In return for its partnership, the university will receive a portion of the revenues the real estate development is projected to generate. While market-based returns are always subject to change, the joint venture conservatively estimates that the university will receive revenues more than sufficient to ensure Berkeley Space Center is self-sustaining, as well as provide new financial support to the core campus, its departments and colleges, and faculty and students.

The university also expects significant additional revenue from other, project-related sources, including new research grants, industry participation and partnerships, as well as the incubation and commercialization of emerging companies born from translation research and technologies created at the site.

The joint venture hired Goodby Silverstein and Partners to develop a brand name, image and marketing strategy for the project. The agency conducted stakeholder interviews and performed research to identify and understand the vision for the project both on the Berkeley campus and with the joint venture partners. They proposed multiple brands to the project team, and ultimately the joint venture’s Executive Committee selected Berkeley Space Center and its accompanying logo.

We want to hear from you! Whether you’re just curious to learn more, have an interest in research, or could consider seeing your company located at the site as a tenant, please complete our Berkeley Space Center Engagement form.

As Berkeley Space Center is new, please allow some time for a response.

Yes, the university already has a process in place to begin joint R&D work with NASA and with private industry. The university also intends to locate some of its initial programs, services, and even research in locations close to NASA Ames or on the Berkeley campus.

UC Berkeley partnerships include research contracts, grants, philanthropy, industry consortia and discretionary funding for selected research topics. Berkeley Space Center allows for the same R&D partnerships, with the expanded reach of not only working with UC Berkeley faculty and students, but also jointly with the broader Silicon Valley ecosystem, which includes some of the largest and most advanced technology companies in the world.

We want to work with you and hear your ideas! Please complete our Berkeley Space Center Engagement form

As Berkeley Space Center is new, please allow some time for a response.

NASA personnel can reach out directly to Sidney Sun.

There are many ways for companies to engage with Berkeley Space Center, from joining industry consortia, to sponsoring, or conducting joint research, supporting early stage companies, supporting our faculty, staff and students, or exploring physically locating at the site. We welcome your thoughts, ideas and engagement.

Please complete our Berkeley Space Center Engagement form.

As Berkeley Space Center is new, please allow some time for a response.

Building on UC Berkeley’s more than 150 years of innovation and academic achievement, Berkeley Space Center will be the home where students and faculty can come together with government and private industry and collaborate to discover, scale and deploy innovations across diverse fields of study and research.

We expect students will have expanded opportunities to participate in conducting research on-site, potentially through NASA and other internships, and with other private industry partners.

Yes, undergraduate and graduate students will be able to access Berkeley Space Center, as well as post doctoral researchers. They will be able to work with, and learn from, faculty and scientists located there. We expect that many of our private industry partners will be greatly interested in connecting with our community.

The master plan contemplates housing as an important element of the overall community. The ground lease with NASA allows for 300 units of housing, plus additional housing designated for faculty, staff and students. In addition, directly to the south of Berkeley Space Center, an additional 2000 units are planned by a separate development - all combining for a vibrant community of people living, working and exploring on-site.

The university entered into a joint venture with SKS Partners. Essentially, the university is bringing its name, the ground lease and its intellectual capital (research and education) to the venture, while SKS Partners is bringing expertise in building the site and raising the funds necessary to pay for that development. The joint venture is organized as a separate limited liability company in which the university and SKS Partners are both managing members. This is different from most of the public private partnerships that the university enters into because it introduces the concept of shared governance. The managing members make major decisions jointly. The university and SKS Partners also split the income generated from the property equally - after the investors who contributed the initial funds necessary to build the development earn their investment returns.

It’s important to note that the joint venture has assigned most of the operational tasks (design, build, raise capital) to SKS Partners as the “operating member.” The university monitors those activities through the appointment of daily representatives that are charged with ensuring that the interests of the university are properly being taken into consideration.

In the summer of 2019, a Request for Qualifications was issued and five firms were brought in for formal interviews. Using objective standards, the university focused on firms that demonstrated experience working with the university and were also open to entering into a joint relationship with UC Berkeley - with the key responsibility of shifting the financial risk from the university to the joint venture.  After due consideration and consultation, SKS Partners was determined to be the firm with the qualifications that most closely matched the university’s requirements.

In return for its partnership, the university will receive a portion of the revenues the real estate development is projected to generate. While market-based returns are always subject to change, the joint venture conservatively estimates that the university will receive revenues more than sufficient to ensure Berkeley Space Center is self-sustaining, as well as provide new financial support to the core campus, its departments and colleges, and faculty and students.

The university also expects significant additional revenue from other, project-related sources, including new research grants, industry participation and partnerships, as well as the incubation and commercialization of emerging companies born from translation research and technologies created at the site.

The joint venture is a long term agreement between the university and SKS Partners.  There are some opportunities for SKS Partners to exit the relationship, but only upon the replacement of a partner that is acceptable to the university. Key principles of SKS Partners are required to stay with the company for the first several years of the relationship.

SKS Partners is first and foremost a real estate development company. They built the first mass timber building in the State of California (a highly sustainable and innovative design). They’ve worked on a number of other highly technical development projects, including for the University of California San Francisco.

Given their expertise, the joint venture has delegated the responsibility to SKS Partners to serve as its “operating member.” They are charged with, among other things: (a) raising the capital necessary to fund the development, (b) choosing, hiring and managing all design consultants, including architects, engineers, technical consultants, and (c) seeing the master plan through the entitlement, horizontal and development phases. In addition, SKS Partners is, through its broker, CBRE, charged with identifying and negotiating with potential tenants who will occupy the site. All of this is with the active engagement of the university through its appointed daily representatives.

With the support of SKS Partners, the university negotiated, on an arms’ length basis, a ground lease with NASA, which was operating under its Enhanced Use Lease Authority.  The lease is for multiple terms, up to a total of 99 years. The lease’s basic terms allow for ~36 acres and 1.4 million square feet of federally entitled space (under NEPA). That is roughly the equivalent of the amount of square footage contained in the Salesforce Tower in San Francisco.

Berkeley Space Center is a unique partnership between the university and SKS Partners. The university and SKS Partners are both members in a limited liability company that form the basis of the joint venture. Through the joint venture, the university and SKS Partners combine forces to execute the master plan that envisions Berkeley Space Center.

One important feature of Berkeley Space Center is that very little public funds - only those necessary to support staffing - are being used to build the development. No public funds are being used to entitle the development, create the horizontal infrastructure necessary, or build the buildings. Instead the joint venture is reaching out to the capital markets (investors) to obtain the funds necessary to build the development.

In addition, it is anticipated that the university will earn investment-like returns based on its status as a member of the joint venture.

To date, Berkeley has contributed approximately $1M to the Berkeley Space Center joint venture, in the form of salary for faculty, staff, and students working on the project and the academic planning related to the new research park. Going forward the campus is planning on annual expenses of approximately $750k to support the salaries of faculty, staff and students working on the project and at the site.

While market-based returns are always subject to change, the joint venture conservatively estimates that the university will receive revenues more than sufficient to ensure Berkeley Space Center is self-sustaining, as well as provide new financial support to the core campus, its departments and colleges, and faculty and students.

Berkeley Space Center’s master planning team has an analysis of the existing site, assessment of existing approvals and setting goals for placemaking, environmental requirements, buildings and mobility. The team has developed a master plan concept that will define Berkeley Space Center’s framework, density, building typologies and amenities. The master plan will be further refined throughout the environmental entitlement process. The development will begin its entitlement process late 2023 or early 2024 with the process expected to last approximately two years. Once the project is permitted, and approved by the UC Regents for CEQA purposes, construction can begin. The current expectation is for construction to begin in 2026 with occupancy potentially beginning as early as 2027.

The university is a state agency and will entitle the project in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The project is subject to the approval of the UC Regents under CEQA. Separately, the project is also subject to the purview of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). NASA is the agency for the purpose of approvals under NEPA. Both approvals will be coordinated by the university acting as the lead agency.

Since the university holds the ground lease, and is a state agency, a review under CEQA is advisable. CEQA generally requires state and local government agencies to inform decision makers and the public about the potential environmental impacts of proposed projects, and to reduce those environmental impacts to the extent feasible. A joint CEQA/NEPA document will be completed for this project in order to satisfy both California and federal requirements.

As the operating member, SKS Partners is responsible for the creation and implementation of the master plan, subject to the active participation of the university through its daily representatives. SKS Partners engaged the firms HOK and Field Operations to develop the initial plan for the site.

The joint-venture partnership views this project as an opportunity to redefine how large-scale developments are designed, built and managed. As such, the team plans to leverage the latest sustainable construction methods and materials.

The development team will set more specific sustainability goals over the course of the design process, however, overarching objectives include:

• Pursuit of rigorous building certifications, both LEED and other

• Installation and use of photo-voltaic panels for power generation in place of natural gas

• Diversion of the majority of on-site waste

• On-site treatment and retention of stormwater

• Use of recycled water for both landscaping and within buildings themselves

• Multiple modes of movement and transportation to and within the site, with a focus on pollution-free mobility

• Phytoremediation, whereby Berkeley Space Center’s landscape design and maintenance will heal groundwater aquifers

The university expects to have a meaningful presence at Berkeley Space Center, and university affiliates are required to make up 40 percent or more of the occupancy by 2042. The project is expected to attract cutting-edge companies and entrepreneurs seeking collaboration and opportunities in diverse fields - from aerospace to aviation, from quantum computing to AI, from data science to robotics, and many others.  The university will seek opportunities to collaborate, cohabitate and work with companies that are interested in aligning themselves to translational and basic research required to transform current thinking and change the world.

We want to hear from you! Please complete our Berkeley Space Center Engagement form.

As Berkeley Space Center is new, please allow some time for a response.

Berkeley Space Center is currently going through entitlement under CEQA. If approved by the UC Regents, we anticipate that buildings will be available for occupancy in 2027. Early opportunities to engage with the university may be available, and interested persons or companies should fill out our Berkeley Space Center Engagement form.

As Berkeley Space Center is new, please allow some time for a response.

Yes! This is one of the promises of Berkeley Space Center - to work more closely with the faculty, staff, researchers and students at UC Berkeley!

Please fill out our Berkeley Space Center Engagement form. As Berkeley Space Center is new, please allow some time for a response.

Yes! The presence of UC Berkeley at Berkeley Space Center is only the beginning.  There are already many examples of UC campuses working together to enable cutting edge research.  Examples like CITRIS (a collaboration amongst Berkeley, Davis, Merced and Santa Cruz) hint at the possibilities to come.

No. The best way to view this is a cutting edge research park that is born of the university’s mission and innovative spirit.  Most of the research park will be occupied by private companies that are aligned to that mission and wish to collaborate with the university and with adjacent government entities, like NASA and USGS.

Transportation to and from Berkeley Space Center will be an important issue to review during development. We do anticipate that many users of Berkeley Space Center will live nearby - including on-site. In addition, for those persons who need to come from Berkeley to this new site, the project team anticipates that shuttles, and public transportation, will meet most needs.