Planning Commission Approves Revision to Allow Fuller Theological Seminary to Lease Out Its Building at 250 N. Madison Avenue

The Planning Commission on Wednesday unanimously approved the revision of a Planned Development Plan for the 38,468 square-foot office building located at 250 N. Madison Avenue being occupied by Fuller Theological Seminary.

Fuller wants to revise the permitted land uses to add “office — administrative business professional” to the allowable list of uses of the site.

Currently, the PD Plan only allows administrative offices with ancillary classroom space that is related to the college/university use.

Fuller’s representative Stephanie DeWolfe said Fuller made the request so it can lease the building, which is now largely vacant, to other office tenants.

“Last summer, Fuller began struggling with changes to educational delivery. They began consolidating operations and had to start moving some of their operations out of this building.”

“What we’re seeing is a decline in onsite student enrollment, an increased use of technology and a significant shift to online and hybrid programming so that creates a reduced need for physical space so that means less classroom space and less administrative space, and that in turn leads to underutilized real estate assets and a need for financial flexibility for the university.”

In urging the commission to approve the staff recommendation, DeWolfe said leaving Fuller’s building vacant will not be good for Fuller, the neighborhood and the economy.

The existing building being occupied by Fuller was built in 1979 as a general office building.

In July 1988, the City Council approved PD Plan 21 to facilitate the development of an office building at the site.

In November 2004, a year after Fuller purchased the property, the City Council revised the PD Plan specifying that the permitted uses for the office building would be limited to administrative offices with ancillary classroom space related to the college/university use.

The commission’s approval of the recommendation was based on the city staff’s findings that the revision is consistent with the city’s general plan.

“The proposed change to allow general office uses would facilitate the creation of new job opportunities for local residents and support the development and expansion of office uses in the Central District. Therefore, the proposed would be consistent with the goals and policies of the City’s General Plan Land Use Element,” staff report stated.