By Kristin Harms and Bill Ellig - as seen in UH News May 2025

Historical Significance

As the forerunner to San Diego State University, the 13-acre site at 4100 Normal Street in University Heights (also known as the Brucker Site and the Normal Street Site) has special significance for our community. The grand Normal School was built there in 1898 and occupied the site for 33 years before moving to Montezuma Mesa in 1931 to eventually become San Diego State University in the 1970s.

The Teachers Training Annex 1 was built adjacent to the Normal School in 1910 to train teachers in classroom procedures under real life conditions, and the Drafting Classroom and Men’s Locker Room (Annex 4) was built in 1922 as part of the Normal School.

While the grand Normal School was demolished in 1955 by San Diego City Schools, Annexes 1 and 4 still stand today. Annex 1 was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999 through the efforts of the University Heights Historical Society

Community Efforts to Preserve Annex 1

Community efforts to preserve Annex 1 began in 2001 when a variety of local organizations began collaborating with the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) and the City of San Diego to adaptively reuse Annex 1 as the as the University Heights Branch Library.

Organizations and individuals involved in this effort included the University Heights Community Development Corporation (UHCDC), University Heights Historical Society (UHHS), University Heights Community Association (UHCA), University Heights Library Task Force, Friends of the University Heights Library, Save our Heritage Organization (SOHO), and Councilmember Toni Atkins.

These efforts to preserve and adaptively reuse Annex 1 stalled for several years but were revived in December 2017 when the San Diego Unified School District issued a Request for Proposals to exchange three of its properties, including the Normal Street site, for one property to become the new District Central Office.

In May 2018, the Board of Education voted to reject all 5 proposals for exchange of three of its properties. Instead, the District decided to retain ownership of the 4100 Normal Street site and redevelop it with affordable housing for District teachers and staff.

Community organizations (UHCDC, UHHS, UHCA, SOHO) came together again in 2018 as the Community Coalition of University Heights (CCUH) and began collaborating with SDUSD to preserve and adaptively reuse Annex 1, and to develop a vision and site plan for the entire 13-acre Brucker site that fulfilled the goals of both SDUSD and the community.

Community Engagement to Create Vision and Site Plan for the Brucker Site

From 2019 to 2023, San Diego Unified School District engaged with hundreds of University Heights members to create a vision and site plan for the Brucker site that reflected the goals of both the District and the community. Community engagement included:

4 community workshops attended by hundreds of residents hosted by SDUSD including design charettes to gain deep insights into what community members most want to see;
9 task force meetings hosted by SDUSD with representatives of the CCUH;
5 presentations by District staff and Board members at UHCA meetings;
25 articles and op-eds published in the UHCA monthly newspaper;
2 community-wide surveys - one by UHCA and one by the CCUH to gauge community priorities for redevelopment of the Brucker site;
8 site plans created by students at the New School of Architecture to integrate affordable workforce housing with preservation of historic buildings on the site;
1 site plan created by an architect hired by the UHHS to incorporate both District and community priorities, including historic preservation.

**AVRP / Community Consensus Plan - Aerial View at Normal/Park/El Cajon**

Consensus Site Plan Emerges

Out of this extensive community engagement with SDUSD, a consensus site plan for the Brucker site emerged that was designed by the District’s architect, AVRP Studios, and included:

500 affordable units for District teachers and staff at the south end of the site
Maximum 5-7 stories overall with a maximum of 4 stories along Campus Ave.
Preservation and rehabilitation of Annexes 1 & 2
East-west and north-south pedestrian circulation
Public open space in central area
Outdoor plaza in front of Annex 1
Amphitheatre behind Annex 1
Dog park
Preservation of the two large heritage trees in front of Annex 3 and at the corner of Campus Avenue and Normal Street

Consensus Plan Unravels

SDUSD hosted its fourth and final community workshop about the site plan for the Brucker site on November 8, 2023. After that, the District convened one more Task Force meeting on December 19, 2023 and member of the CCUH followed up by phone or email several more times in 2024 for progress updates.

Our understanding from these meetings, emails, and phone calls was that SDUSD had completed all the community engagement for the Brucker site plan and would use the AVRP site as a basis for the Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Brucker site.

Unbeknownst to the CCUH, SDUSD conducted a Real Estate Workshop with the Board of Education on December 3, 2024, to review consultant recommendations for affordable housing on 5 sites including the Brucker site. Those recommendations were incorporated into an RFP for all 5 sites that were presented to the Board of Education at their regular meeting on March 25, 2025.

On March 25, the Board of Education voted to approve the RFP presented at the December workshop. The CCUH happened to find out on March 22 about the meeting and scrambled to prepare public testimony. Three of us presented during public comment as did 20 other housing advocates, many of whom came from outside University Heights. They advocated for increased height, density, and minimal-to-no parking on the Brucker site.

The Good News and Bad News about the RFP

The good news about the RFP for the Brucker site is that it includes several features from the AVRP site plan:

Truly affordable workforce housing
Conformance with local zoning and community plans
Adequate onsite parking
Preservation and rehabilitation of Annexes 1 and 2

The bad news is the RFP does NOT include the AVRP site plan for the Brucker site or any of the following features included in the AVRP Site Plan:

Public open space in the central area
East-west and north-south pedestrian circulation
An outdoor plaza in front of Annex 1
An amphitheatre behind Annex 1
Dog park
Preservation of the two large heritage trees in front of Annex 3 and at the corner of Campus Avenue and Normal Street

The RFP also does not include any of the $200 million in bond funding for District affordable housing approved in 2022 by 65% of voters county-wide, and by 79% of voters in University Heights.

District Timeline for RFP