Texas A&M System
Chancellor John Sharp addresses those present at the topping-out ceremony on Monday.
Officials with the Texas A&M University System, city of Fort Worth, and Tarrant County gathered Monday to mark a milestone in the progress of the construction of the Law and Education Building, the first building at Texas A&M-Fort Worth.
The “topping-out” ceremony — the placing of the final beam at the top of the building — commemorated the completion of the building’s structural framework and its reaching its maximum height.
The eight-story, $185 million building is slated for completion in 2026. It will feature academic programs including law, medical technology, nursing, engineering and others designed to meet the economic development and workforce needs of one of the fastest growing cities in America and one of the most robust economic regions of Texas. Other workforce training and professional development opportunities specific to the region will be offered.
Texas A&M System
John Goff
“It was only three years ago, I stood on this site — a parking lot at the time — and announced the intent to build an urban research campus,” said Chancellor John Sharp of The Texas A&M University System. “Today, only three years later, our first building — the Law & Education Building — is being ‘topped out,’ thanks to our hardworking construction team.”
Texas A&M System
Mattie Parker
A barbecue lunch accompanied the ceremony. Officials and workers also signed a girder representing the final piece completing the top of the building.
The A&M System, city of Fort Worth, and Tarrant County are in the process of designing the second building, the Research & Innovation Building A. The original vision was for the partnership to construct a campus of at least three buildings on the four blocks the A&M System owns in southeast downtown.
Texas A&M’s “investment will be life-changing and truly transformational,” said Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker, who was joined at the event by immediate predecessor Betsy Price and former Mayor Ken Barr. “There will be projects in this city that are foundational, that are catalytic. As your mayor, I think this is probably the most catalytic project I’ll get to be a part of when you think about what it looks like for a university system as large and as powerful with the foundation size and the commitment from alumni for success in students to be here in the city of Fort Worth. Over the last few years in working with the entire system, all of your staff and faculty are truly top-notch.
“To each of you as my friends, thank you for not just your commitment to this project, but really to the entire city.”
Fort Worth and Tarrant County officials approached the A&M System about investing in Fort Worth, one of the nation’s fastest-growing large cities, to provide more educational opportunities and workforce training for the North Texas region.