Fort Worth’s Texas A&M campus breaks ground next month

May 18,2023

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See full Fort Worth Report article by Bob Francis here.

Dirt will fly as construction begins in June on the new Law and Education Building on the Texas A&M University-Fort Worth campus.

During a meeting on Thursday, May 18, the Texas A&M University System’s Board of Regents appropriated the $150 million needed for construction of the eight-story building that will anchor a new research campus in southeast downtown.

The Law and Education Building will be the first of three high-rise structures to be built and financed by the Texas A&M System, the city of Fort Worth, Tarrant County and the private sector.

“Our goal is to spur business and job growth in one of the nation’s fastest-growing cities and throughout North Texas,” said Chancellor John Sharp, in a news release. “This is a gamechanger for everyone involved.”

The Law and Education Building, which will become the new home to Texas A&M’s School of Law, also will house courses in engineering, health care, nursing and other subjects offered by Texas A&M University, Texas A&M Health and Tarleton State University.

City officials, business leaders and educators have been enthusiastic about the project from the start. 

“It is exciting to see this project continue to march forward,” said Mayor Mattie Parker, in a statement. “Texas A&M-Fort Worth will be home to life-changing workforce development and world-changing research, ushering in an exciting new wave of development and opportunity in downtown Fort Worth."

The campus, to be built across four city blocks, will include a Research and Innovation Building where the private sector, including some of the area’s largest employers, and the A&M System’s agencies can collaborate. The Gateway Building will house offices, more classroom and meeting spaces, and a conference center.

Texas A&M University officials say they expect to complete the campus by 2027.

While construction on the Law and Education Building begins next month, the accelerated schedule means some final design decisions, such as the color of the bricks, will be made in the coming weeks, according to A&M officials.

The approval of the new building follows on the heels of the Texas A&M University School of Law now being ranked 29th nationally among law schools, according to the U.S. News & World Report’s 2023-2024 ranking of Best Graduate Schools. 

A&M’s law school rose from 46th in the nation last year. Among Texas schools, the law school ranks second only behind the University of Texas at Austin, which is ranked No. 16. The law school also placed top 10 nationally in two specialty rankings. The Dispute Resolution program placed seventh and the Intellectual Property program placed ninth.

In November 2021, Texas A&M University announced plans to build a top-tier research campus on land downtown where it currently has the Texas A&M School of Law. The development was dubbed “Aggieland North,” at the time but has been formerly named Texas A&M-Fort Worth. 

Stantec will serve as the architect of record for the Law & Education building with design architect Pelli Clarke & Partners assisting with labs. Construction management teams include Turner Construction Company, CARCON Industries, Source Building Group Inc. and Dikita Enterprises.

The latest renderings of what the building may look like can be seen at www.tamus.edu/fort-worth/

Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.

This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Location Mentioned: Texas A&M Fort Worth