Nashville's Vanderbilt University in talks to open a campus in downtown San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Vanderbilt University, the prestigious school located in Nashville, Tennessee, could soon have a campus in San Francisco.
In a statement to ABC7 News, the university confirmed it's considering expanding its presence to the West Coast.
That statement reads in part: "We recognize the long-term global leadership of San Francisco and its ever-growing potential, defined by a vibrant culture, dynamic innovation ecosystem and the talent drawn to its leading technology companies and top-caliber arts and cultural institutions."
While San Francisco has long been open to establishing more universities in the city, the initiative really gained momentum under previous Mayor London Breed.
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"San Francisco is where everything in artificial intelligence is happening. And so people want to be here," Breed said in a sit-down interview with ABC7 News.
Breed told ABC7 News her office held talks with several universities about establishing a presence in the city's downtown. She said she worked to help change zoning laws to make that goal a more plausible reality.
Breed believes bringing a university campus to San Francisco would benefit the whole city in multiple ways, calling it a unique approach to revitalizing the city's urban core.
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"Downtown has to be a 24/7 neighborhood where you work, where you live and where you play," she said. "It can't be that nine to five financial district that it has been in the past."
San Francisco Chamber of Commerce President Rodney Fong says that reimagining of downtown would have positive economic impacts not just for the neighborhood, but the city as a whole.
"It's so important that all things fire: tourism, conventions, retail, office use of course. And adding academia to it would be just another arrow in the quiver," said Fong.
With the city finally emerging from several tough years following the pandemic, Breed believes San Francisco is once again a place everyone wants to be.
"Here's an incredible opportunity to get in early so that as San Francisco continues to grow and to thrive in its downtown region, you'll be right in the center of this," she said.
