Roughly 65 Pepperdine University students who were living off-campus at Calamigos Ranch are seeking new accommodations for the next academic year. Their housing, known as Calamigos Living, is about to undergo “needed” renovations after ten years, according to management.
The handful of private houses and cottages on the Calamigos property have been strictly used for Pepperdine students for the last decade. The partnership between the university and Calamigos began last decade when a housing crunch began on campus, and more residential units were needed. Dr. Brian Dawson, a former Pepperdine dean who runs the program, informed resident students last month that housing on the ranch property was to be phased out and leases non-renewed, but indicated a handful of students asked to stay through May 2026 in order to finish their last academic year at the university.
The rest of the students are in the process of finding other housing in the area, which has been pinched since the Palisades Fire destroyed as many as 700 homes in Malibu, making competition for rentals strong. Some of the bungalow units at Calamigos Living housed up to 12 students each in a rural mini-community with a few resident advisors. It’s still unclear whether the owners of Calamigos Ranch with absorb the renovated units to be added to their resort rentals. The property’s owner, Glen Gerson, said, “The Pepperdine kids have been exceptional.”
