Placer One celebrates Sacramento State and Sierra College center groundbreaking

Placer One, the planned site for the Sacramento State Placer Center and Sierra College Transfer Center in unincorporated Placer County, began construction on Friday, following a groundbreaking ceremony. The campus is expected to open within five years, according to school officials. Placer One, formerly known as Placer Ranch, is a project in a 2,200-acre area, with 300 acres going toward the campus. It will have thousands of homes, commercial space, a town center, and recreational facilities including parks, according to the Sunset Area Plan and Placer Ranch Specific Plan. "Finally, a beginning," Sacramento State University President Robert Nelsen started his speech during Friday's ribbon cutting. That beginning is the construction for a new campus for Sierra College and Sacramento State University students at the north end of Woodcreek Oaks Boulevard. The brand-new campus coming soon Former Placer Ranch President Holly Tiche said during the ceremony that "infrastructure and a catalyst" have been missing from this project. But what's "a better catalyst than higher education?" she said. The new campus is designed to help students easily transition from Sierra College to Sacramento State University, Sierra College President William Duncan said during the ceremony. "Never before in California has a community college and a California State University come together" to collaborate in a project combining two colleges, according to Duncan. Duncan also said that the center has plans for dual-admission and enrollment to streamline the process for Sierra College to Sacramento State University transfer students. Dual admissions and enrollment would mean that students could be accepted into both Sierra College and Sacramento State University at the same time. According to Duncan, about 40 percent of Sierra College transfer students transfer to Sacramento State University. Since most of these students are local, however, Nelsen acknowledged that the commute to the university can become challenging. "Proximity" to higher education is important, especially when the "demand" for it continues to rise, Duncan said. "Placer One will expand access to four-year degrees by giving students a campus that is closer to home and our partnership with Sierra College will help to make the transition from community college to Sac State seamless," said Sacramento State President Nelsen. Sierra College President Duncan emphasized the partnership. "Together with our cities, Placer County and Sac State, we look forward to creating options for students to stay here, learn here and succeed here," Duncan said. After Friday's ceremony, Duncan said, "We'll start small, but eventually at full buildout, the university could be as many as 25,000 students and we're expecting about 5,000 or so from Sierra." Nelsen was also looking to the future and estimating how many students the campus is expecting. "Eventually, we're expecting over 20,000 students," said Nelsen after the ceremony. "Initially we have to get to 500, then we can call it an official center... you start at 500, you build to 1,200, then you build to 12,000, then you build to 22,000." Students and faculty can also expect dorms and housing at full buildout, according to Duncan and Nelsen. At first, there will be a few hundred dorm rooms in the beginning but there could be "as many as a thousand," said Duncan. "We're going for affordable dorms," Nelsen said. "We want to have dorms available here for both Sierra College and Sac State Students." Sierra College, at full buildout, could have as many as 100 to 200 new jobs, according to Duncan. Sacramento State University estimates that the Placer Center will "bring close to $900,000 in economic impact" and that there will likely be 2,000 jobs created at full buildout, said Nelsen. Placer One's other goals According to Placer County Supervisor Robert Weygandt, about 4,000 new permanent jobs will be created in the Sunset Area Plan and Placer One Plan after construction. Construction for roads, water, and electrical for the area will begin in spring 2023 and the building of homes will start at the beginning of 2024, according to Sacramento State officials in the press release. The land for the entire project was donated in 2021 by philanthropist Eli Broad's Placer Ranch and the project was purchased by the Taylor Builders the same year, according to Sacramento State officials in the press release.