La Jolla, CA – Hillel of San Diego at long last will break ground onThe Beverly and Joseph Glickman Hillel Center located in La Jolla and adjacent to the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego). The long-awaited start of construction will be celebrated on Sunday, September 19th, drawing the region’s community, higher education and elected leaders including City of San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, San Diego City Councilmember Joe LaCava and UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep Khosla, among others.
“The 52nd district has long awaited the Beverly and Joseph Glickman Hillel Center,” said Congressman Scott Peters. “After 20 long years and many challenges along the way, we are fortunate to celebrate a momentous groundbreaking milestone. The start of construction marks a bright and inclusive future ahead for what is now a vacant parcel of land.”
Located on a 0.8-acre parcel along La Jolla Scenic Drive, the 6,500-square-foot Beverly and Joseph Glickman Hillel Center includes three separate, one- and two-story buildings around a central outdoor courtyard. It will serve the community at UC San Diego by hosting Jewish holiday experiences, Jewish learning, and community activities.
“The Beverly and Joseph Glickman Hillel Center will be more than a state-of-the-art facility, it will be a symbol of justice and a reminder that every Jewish young person in our city matters and that they deserve a place to feel safe and loved. This center is a proclamation that our city is truly a city for all of us,” said City of San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria.
The groundbreaking follows a decision by the California Courts of Appeal that ended the last of a series of lawsuits from 2006 to 2021 challenging the project. With the last hurdle cleared, the Hillel Center is expected to open sometime in fall 2022 to provide students at UC San Diego with a permanent home near campus.
“The Beverly and Joseph Glickman Hillel Center will be a hub for Jewish life at UC San Diego and is critical to ensuring that students have a place to gather, connect, and learn,” said Hillel of San Diego Executive Director, Karen Parry. “As antisemitism is on the rise all over the country, our new Hillel Center will serve as a connector to the larger UC San Diego community to build bridges and foster allyship.”
In 2000, Hillel of San Diego was awarded exclusive rights to purchase the property from the City of San Diego to build a Hillel Center. Hillel of San Diego has been working with the city and the community since 2001 to develop this project, which gained unanimous approval from the San Diego City Council in 2017.
“Our community has been waiting a long time for this center and we are eager to move forward quickly to serve the community at UC San Diego,” said David Michan, a past president of Hillel of San Diego who chairs the Building Committee and oversees the project. The project team includes Pacific Building Group, M.W. Steele Group and Hughes Marino, among others.
“We want to thank our many supporters, with special appreciation to the outstanding legal team at Cooley LLP led by Summer Wynn and Barrett Anderson and to attorney Robin Madaffer, each of whom represented the project on a pro bono basis during its 20-year legal travails,” said Robert Lapidus, a past president of Hillel of San Diego and champion of the project.
Led by a $5 million pledge from the late philanthropist Joseph “Chickie” Glickman, who was a neighbor of the project site, Hillel of San Diego has already raised significant contributions and pledges to fund the project. With the start of construction, Hillel of San Diego is continuing its capital fundraising campaign for the Center, with a goal of raising an additional $3.9 million. Those interested in supporting this fundraising effort can visit: www.glickmancenter.org.
“We are thrilled to be able to make our dream of the Beverly and Joseph Glickman Hillel Center a reality,” said Hillel of San Diego Board President Todd Kirschen. “While we are well on our way to this reality, we hope the community can help us take it across the finish line and create a bright future for generations of UC San Diego students by supporting our capital fundraising campaign.”
