Texas A&M’s New $300 Million Fort Worth Campus — a Vision For the Future of Downtown Takes Shape
November 12,2021
See full Paper City Magazine article by Courtney Dabney here.
Texas A&M aims to expand its footprint in Fort Worth in a major way. The plan is to build a new downtown research campus to spur innovation and business development in the area — and a new law school building. This is a massive project, expected to cost between $250 and $300 million according to projections.
“Welcome to Aggieland North,” Texas A&M chancellor John Sharp says.
Texas A&M’s new urban campus would join other Fort Worth colleges and universities like TCU, Texas Wesleyan and Tarleton State ― which opened its 80-acre campus along Chisholm Trail Parkway in 2019. Tarleton is also part of the A&M university system. This new A&M campus would be all about building the workforce of tomorrow.
A&M’s Law School already has called Fort Worth home for the past eight years, having taken over the former Southwestern Bell building downtown, plus leasing space in a nearby building. Now, a new Law School building at 1515 Commerce Street is a key part of the plan. It will serve as the front door and academic anchor of the new urban campus.
Plans also call for a new Education Alliance Building for hosting conferences and holding professional, technical and university courses from Texas A&M School of Law, Tarleton State University, Texas A&M and the Texas A&M Health Science Center.
The Texas A&M system already owns four blocks in this area of Fort Worth, situated next to two major attractions, the Convention Center and Water Gardens. The City is also planning a convention center expansion, more hotel rooms and other nearby improvements.
“It is truly go time in Fort Worth, and the role that this project will have in the revitalization of the Fort Worth convention center district to spur business and job growth is a prime example of that,” Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker says.
Right now, it’s only a vision held between representatives of the A&M System, the city, Tarrant County and the Fort Worth Now, a privately-funded group formed to help businesses and economic growth in aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Key parts of the plans need approval from the Fort Worth City Council and Tarrant County Court of Commissioners, as well as a series of approvals from the A&M’s Board of Regents before construction can begin. Still, the vision is an exciting one for a city growing as rapidly — and determinedly — as Fort Worth.
Texas A&M hopes to begin construction on the new campus next summer.
“Six notable Fort Worth employers — Alcon, AT&T, Bell, Elbit Systems of America, Lockheed Martin and Philips — are interested in collaborating in particular research areas. An incubator for business startups might relocate to the A&M center,” officials note in a release.
“The A&M System is making a Texas-sized commitment to Fort Worth,” Sharp says.
Location Mentioned: Texas A&M University School of Law