According to their public relations office, Babson College has signed a 7-year lease to open up a west-coast campus in San Francisco. The space, decked out with the latest and greatest classroom tech, will be used for their Fast Track MBA program. And they’re not waiting around: the initial class to use the San Fran facility will start in March of 2011.

Babson’s MBA program, based right outside of Boston in Wellesley (well, technically Babson Park), has been ranked #1 for entrepreneurship for 17 consecutive years by U.S. News & World Reports. Their new 7,000 square-foot west coast campus will sit in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood (SoMa) at 135 Main Street — right next to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco — and just a few blocks away from the water and Bay Bridge.

Babson has received many awards for its curriculum, which weaves entrepreneurship in and across various business disciplines. At the undergraduate level, all students graduate with a Bachelor of Sciece in Business Management. At the graduate level, all earn an MBA, but can choose among various tracks: 1-year intensive program, standard 2-year program, evening program (designed for working professionals to complete in 3 years), and Fast Track.

The Fast Track MBA program is designed for professionals who work part-time and still want to complete a degree in a shorter time than traditional part-time MBAs. The program achieves this by complementing in-person classes with online learning (see details below). Babson launched its Fast Track MBA program in San Francisco earlier this year in March, but without dedicated space. Instead, they were meeting at the Mission Bay Conference Center.

“This announcement is a strong signal of our commitment to the Bay area and clearly identifies San Francisco as the hub of our Fast Track operations to serve the western United States. The new location will allow us to grow our program by 80 students next spring. In addition, this facility will afford the bay area community access to content generated by faculty and students who are deeply committed to advancing Babson’s unique approach to entrepreneurial management education.” –Raghu Tadepalli, Murata Dean, F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College.

Here are some details behind Babson’s Fast Track MBA program taken from their website:

The Fast Track program’s curriculum includes:

• Fast Track Kick-off Residency: A 5-day program introduction, focusing on creativity, innovation, and teamwork
• Building Business Insight: 8, 1.5-credit courses that cover business foundations
• Advanced Business Leadership: An integrated and applied holistic management perspective
• Electives: Deep exploration into general business management areas
• Capstone Project: Work-related or company-sponsored real-world application of knowledge gained throughout the MBA experience

The Fast Track program is delivered through:

• 18 face-to-face meetings, approximately every six weeks
• Action Learning Projects (short, highly focused assignments)
• Distance-learning components built into the Blackboard learning management system (wikis, blogs, synchronous classroom) accessible at your convenience

Make sure to follow @BabsonMBA on Twitter for more developments around their San Fran campus.