The City Council chambers were packed with hundreds of people in favor and against the project. Both sides, however, agree that University Village would change the community around the school.
USC wants to tear down the University Village Shopping complex across the street from campus and build a state-of-the-art project with a parking structure, restaurants, stores and, above all, more than 5,000 new student housing units. Some worry it will make the area unaffordable for residents who live there.
School officials say USC is the city's largest private employer and this project would create 8,000 new permanent jobs.
The committee did not make a decision Tuesday. USC hoped to break ground on the project this year. The new target date is 2013.
