Stanford Scuttles Plan to Buy Catholic University Campus

Stanford University has backed out of a plan to buy a 174-year-old Catholic university campus in Belmont.

The university next to Palo Alto scuttled an option to purchase the 45.6-acre Notre Dame de Namur University campus at 1500 Ralston Avenue, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Stanford cited unanticipated factors for its decision, including the changing landscape of higher education and financial challenges.

“As we were engaging with the Belmont community and city leaders, we were also exploring possible academic uses for a Stanford Belmont campus,” Stanford said in a statement. “This process has clarified that identifying and establishing those uses for a potential Belmont campus will take significantly longer than we initially planned.”

The university signed an option purchase agreement in 2021 to acquire the historic Catholic university property with plans to create a satellite campus for 2,500 students, faculty and staff. Terms of a potential sale were not disclosed, according to the newspaper.

The proposed Stanford Belmont campus would have been 13 miles up Highway 101 from the main campus.

The decision to back out came after years of community engagement, including the release of a draft environmental impact report in August, which outlined plans for a satellite campus that would blend with Belmont’s village-like character.

In 2019, Stanford withdrew a major expansion plan for its main campus after San Mateo County officials voiced concerns about the potential growth.

Leaders in Belmont had hoped Stanford could help revitalize the historic property, whose university has dwindled to 300 students after a decade of financial hardship.

Its Ralston Hall Mansion, built in 1867 as the summer home of banker William Ralston, is a state and national landmark that’s been shuttered for years. The Italianate building is now undergoing a renovation that Notre Dame de Namur University can’t afford to complete.

In August, Belmont Vice Mayor Gina Latimerlo said the sale would help fund the renovations, while bestowing benefits to the city, including improved athletic facilities and infrastructure.

After Stanford shelves its plans for Belmont, the future of the university — the third-oldest college in the state and the first to grant a baccalaureate degree to women — is uncertain.

— Dana Bartholomew