Westside Pavilion
From a shopping mall to a university research center
On Jan. 3, 2024, UCLA Newsroom announced that UCLA was set to transform the Westside Pavilion Mall into the UCLA Research Park as a part of the 2023-2028 Strategic Plan to help strengthen the university's ties to the city. Former UCLA Chancellor Gene Block issued an announcement further endorsing the plans to expand UCLA, including other projects like the South Bay campus. To read the full press release from UCLA Newsroom on the building’s history, funding and donors, click the button below.
The 700,000-square-foot property is only two miles from the Westwood campus. The expansion plan is to transform Westside Pavilion into a Research Park to house scientific research conducted by the California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy at UCLA, as well as the UCLA Center for Quantum Science and Engineering.
In the letter by former Chancellor Block announcing the changes to Westside Pavilion, the future UCLA Research Park, Block mentioned that the previous multiplex movie theater of the Westside Pavilion will be converted into lecture halls and spaces that will offer programs for the sciences, as well as arts and humanities. Block continues that UCLA received $500 million from the state of California toward creating the institute surrounding immunology and immunotherapy research, in addition to the already allocated $200 million for the project. Click the button below to read the entire message on UCLA acquiring the building, turning it into a place to further scientific understanding and expanding the school’s roots in Los Angeles.
According to the Creating the Future UCLA Strategic Plan 2023-2028 timeline, the Westside Pavilion transformation is part of the research and creativity goals; the timeline’s other goals include focusing on UCLA in the community, global reach, and elevating teaching and institutional effectiveness. Since UCLA acquired the former mall in January 2024, UCLA named the special advisor to the vice chancellor for the project in April 2024 and named the master plan designer for the transformation in May 2024. The plan suggests that the initial phase should be finished in the fall of 2024. For more information and the full Strategic Plan 2023-2028 timeline, click the button below.