Hot water has been shut off in most San Francisco State University campus buildings until further notice to repair a leak and complete a hot water repair project, according to an email to Golden Gate Xpress from Facilities Services.
The notice specifies that all campus buildings, except housing, will be affected. However, Golden Gate Xpress found that hot water was available in the Science and Engineering Innovation Center, the Gator Student Health Center and Yerba Buena Dining Hall, in addition to housing, at the time of publication.
Gareth Beilby, Capitol Planning, Design and Construction’s principal inspector, said his team hopes to complete repairs to the leak near the Fine Arts Building and the Creative Arts Building by Wednesday.
“As soon as the repair is done, the heating hot water will be restored at the central plant and the heat will be restored back to the buildings,” Beilby said.
On May 16, hot water began to leak out of a pipe near Cafe Rosso. Facilities Services staff shut down the central heating system in the Fine Arts Building, Marcus Hall, the Creative Arts Building, the Humanities Building and the Mashouf Wellness Center to repair the leak. Then, on May 29, hot water was shut down across most campus buildings for both a CPDC repair project and to fix the leak.
The Mashouf Wellness Center has received complaints from patrons about cold showers and no heating in the pool since the shutdown. Staff members were not given a clear timeline of when the hot water would be restored, often giving mixed information to gymgoers, ranging from two days to a month until restoration.
Alyssa Smith, a business graduate student who regularly goes to the Mashouf Wellness Center, uses the building’s showers five days a week. She has not heard any communication about the shutdown or a timeline.
“I really wish that it were warm,” said Smith, who still uses the showers despite the cold water. “It was just cold one day and it’s just been like that.”
Throughout the Spring 2025 semester, there were five reported hot water shutdowns, according to Facilities Services’ Alerts and Outages Notifications.
CPDC will be working on their repair project until August 15, but still plans to have the hot water restored by Wednesday. Beilby declined to comment on the project and future hot water impacts on campus. The project will occur in the area between the Gymnasium and the Cesar Chavez Student Center, according to a notice posted by Facilities Services.
