UC Davis launches Aggie Square, opening first phase of $1.1B Sacramento project

UC Davis’ new $1.1 billion innovation district in Sacramento has been officially unveiled.

Aggie Square — an 11-acre facility that features high tech medical manufacturing, research labs, medical offices, medical school classrooms, private work space and on-site housing — hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday to open the newest piece of the university’s research campus in the Oak Park neighborhood.

The festive event culminated eight years of planning and construction.

“This officially opening marks an era of expanded opportunity for UC Davis students today and opens a new chapter for lifelong growth as interdisciplinary creators of every kind,” UC Davis chancellor Gary May said.

UC Davis programming on site will include a masters program for engineering in medical device development, which was designed specifically for Aggie Square. It will also host the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center’s new “cancer research hub.” The Veterinary Genetics Laboratory is also expected to move to the new facility.

Finalized on Friday as part of the partnership is FLANN Inc., a South Korean firm that supports biotech and pharmaceutical companies expanding to the United States. They will help launch a soft landing program designed to house up to 10 early stage South Korean life science companies.

“For researchers, today represents a new era of opportunity to collaborate and create,” May said. “They will work alongside industry partners, clinicians and patients as they develop medical devices and create new companies for a wide range of sectors.”

The project was funded largely by Wexford Science and Technology, an independent company, which has built 15 other “knowledge communities” while partnering with universities throughout the country including the University of Pennsylvania, Duke, University of Miami and University of Maryland.

Wexford is leasing the land owned by the school. Some 60% of the space inside Aggie Square will be used by UC Davis while 40% will be rented to private companies.

A handful of protesters were on hand while May gave his address to the hundreds in the crowd. They were chanting in support of the University of California employees who walked off their jobs to combat the school system’s decision to implement a hiring freeze last month.

The protesters have argued the UC system committed an unfair labor practice by not bargaining with the union over the unilateral hiring freeze. The university cited proposed cuts to its $54 billion budget and the Trump administration’s threats to cut funding to universities.

The protesters chanted throughout May’s address and then left the event soon after without incident.

Financial impact of Aggie Square

Officials estimate Aggie Square will lead to $1.92 billion in total economic output regionally and $2.32 billion statewide. Economists estimate that upwards of 12,000 jobs were created in relation to construction with 3,200 permanent jobs created after construction is completed.

The project also included over $50 million towards affordable housing. Adjacent to Aggie Square is a new residential building that has 190 apartments with 252 beds. There is also a new 1,550-stall parking garage.

Funding for infrastructure came a EIFD that redirected $30 million in future property taxes generated by Aggie Square that were put back into the project.

Sacramento City Councilmember Eric Guerra, who represents District 6, said local construction workers combined to work 3.46 million hours on the project. Many of them were local to Sacramento.

“You multiply the number of hours by the wages they’re making, that money goes back directly into the community,” Guerra said.

Cutting edge technology

The first floor of the main building features a machine lab and 3D printing lab that will aim to help surgeons working in the nearby UC Davis Medical Center.

The 3D printers will be used for surgical pre-planning models, according to Steven Lucero, the director of the UC Davis Tech Foundry.

“Imagine a patient has come in, has had a CT scan, has a 3D digital model of anatomical structures, and they have some kind of generic defect,” Lucero said. “We can then render that defect in various printed polymers that have maybe different mechanical or optical properties properties. (We) provide that to the team of surgeons ... and they can do a lot of preemptive planning prior to the actual surgery.”

Dr. Diana Farmer, the Chair of the UC Davis Department of Surgery, will be working in the facility’s new research labs which are designed to help the nearby clinical labs in the hospital adjacent to Aggie Square.

“It’s academic medicine where the discoveries are made,” Farmer said. “And that allows us to deliver the cures. And that is why having our research labs right next to our clinical spaces makes all the difference in the world.”

This story was originally published May 2, 2025 at 2:35 PM.

Chris Biderman

The Sacramento Bee

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Chris Biderman covers sports and local news for the Sacramento Bee since joining in August 2018 to cover the San Francisco 49ers. He previously spent time with the Associated Press and USA Today Sports Media Group, and has been published in the San Francisco Chronicle, The Athletic and on MLB.com. He is a current member of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America and former member of the Pro Football Writers of America. The Santa Rosa native graduated with a degree in journalism from the Ohio State University.