1. Locate the city in a geographically isolated, but beautiful area close to a major employment hub.
2. Institute strong anti-growth policies.
3. Invite a UC into town.
4. Allow the UC to expand without the matching requirement to build one market-rate housing unit per admitted student.
5. Wait a few decades.
What's great about this is how everyone is trying to get something for nothing. The students are trying to get a "UC" brand without the highly-selective entry requirements of other UCs, and largely bringing in loans to pay for it. The university is growing the student population without building sufficient student housing. Property owners benefit from skyrocketing values without experiencing the pain of finding a place to live, or proportionally exploding property taxes. The city benefits from the money the students bring with them in the form of debt.
I suspect this process would go into reverse rather quickly by taking a single step. Cut the federal loans program by 50%, then 10% per year for every year thereafter.
For extra bang, repeal Proposition 13.