The University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business has officially opened a 20,000-square-foot campus in Downtown Los Angeles, cutting the ribbon on a space tucked inside one of the city’s most architecturally ambitious developments. The new outpost sits at The Grand LA in the Grand Avenue Arts Corridor, giving the business school a permanent home base in a region with one of its largest alumni populations outside Michigan itself.
University officials held the ribbon-cutting ceremony on September 3, according to MLive.com, marking an expansion of the school’s West Coast presence more than a decade after Michigan Ross first launched programs in Los Angeles back in 2012. The new campus includes classrooms, study rooms, collaborative workspaces, and both indoor and outdoor event spaces, and it’s built to support the school’s Executive MBA program alongside meetings and events for Ross alumni, corporate partners, and the broader university community. Per the Eventective venue listing, the facility packs in 16 private breakout rooms and flexible classrooms with built-in presentation screens, plus event space that can host up to 150 people for conferences and workshops.
The location itself carries a story. The Grand LA is the $1 billion-plus, Frank Gehry-designed mixed-use complex developed by Related Companies — the real estate firm founded by Stephen M. Ross, the University of Michigan alumnus for whom the business school is named, according to the Commercial Observer. Ross earned his bachelor’s degree from U-M in 1962 and has since donated $378 million to the university over his lifetime, making him its largest individual donor after the business school was renamed in his honor following a $100 million gift in 2004, per CBS News.
A Campus Built for Cross-Industry Access
Ross School Dean Sharon Matusik said few cities match the energy and global reach of Los Angeles, framing the new campus as a home base to expand academic programming and strengthen community ties across Southern California. The space is designed to position the business school closer to the entertainment, media, technology, finance, real estate, and entrepreneurship industries that define the region’s economy, while also providing access to Latin America, Southeast Asia, and other global markets…