Texas A&M reveals new details about its future Fort Worth campus, including its name
January 19,2023
See Fort Worth Star-Telegram article by Jenny Rudolph here.
Texas A&M University on Thursday announced the official name of its expanded downtown Fort Worth research campus.
The three-building complex that will be built on four blocks where the law school is today will be called Texas A&M-Fort Worth. The project will serve as the anchor for what A&M describes as a technology and innovation district planned around the city’s redevelopment of the convention center.
Once complete, Fort Worth will no longer be the largest Texas city without a significant presence by a large public research university.
Chancellor John Sharp and other university leaders held an open house Thursday in temporary offices in Burnett Plaza. “Howdy!” echoed through a room full of maroon business jackets, cowboy boots and western hats as local government officials and leaders celebrated the university’s growing presence in Fort Worth.
Sharp announced architects and construction firms for the project, which will house programs from Texas A&M, Tarleton State University and several A&M system agencies.
Construction is slated to begin this summer on the Law & Education Building along Commerce Street with a 2025 target for completion. The work is financed with bonds and other sources.
No dates are set for the start of construction on the other two buildings — the Research and Innovation building and the Gateway conference center and offices. They will be financed with city-issued bonds secured by leases to the A&M system and private sector development firms.
The university says this type of financing “will allow the campus to be constructed in about a third of the 15 years it would take for the A&M System to do it alone.”
Among those who spoke Thursday were business investor John Goff, U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, Texas Sen. Kelly Hancock, Tarrant County Judge Tim O’ Hare and Fort Worth City Council member Elizabeth Beck.
A few years ago, Goff, the founder and chairman of Crescent Real Estate, was approached by former Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price about helping Fort Worth recover from the pandemic. After discussions with Texas A&M Law School Dean Robert Ahdieh, they saw potential for the undeveloped land surrounding the existing law school.
The upcoming complex will include classrooms, labs and flexible research and work spaces that can be used by the public or private firms for academic programs, workforce training and collaborative research in engineering, emergency management communications, agriculture, health sciences and other fields.
Training and programs will also be offered throughout the community. The Texas A&M system already has master research agreements with several large employers in Fort Worth.
Stantec will serve as the architect of record for the Law & Education Building and provide lab planning services on the project in partnership with the design architect, Pelli Clarke & Partners.
The construction management teams are Turner Construction Co., CARCON Industries, Source Building Group Inc. and Dikita Enterprises.
The Texas A&M University System is one of the largest systems of higher education in the nation, with a budget of $7.2 billion. Its statewide network of 11 universities, a health science center, eight state agencies and the RELLIS Campus serves more than 152,000 students.
Location Mentioned: Texas A&M University School of Law