Texas A&M
Hillwood's acquisition is on the "front door" of exciting things happening in the southern corridor of downtown, including the development of Texas A&M-Fort Worth's urban campus.
Texas A&M’s Fort Whoop got some surprising and very welcome news on Thursday.
The Texas A&M University System Board of Regents almost doubled the construction budget — from $85 million to $150 million — for Phase One of the Texas A&M-Fort Worth research campus.
Responding to greater-than-expected demand for space in the Law & Education Building, the regents authorized approximately 225,000 gross square feet — an estimated nine floors to house programs in law, engineering, business and health sciences, among others.
“There is so much opportunity for the Texas A&M System to serve Fort Worth, Tarrant County and all of North Texas, we had to go bigger and taller in the first building,” says Chancellor John Sharp in a statement.
The Law & Education Building is to be the first of a three-building complex built on four city blocks in southeast downtown as a joint effort with the city of Fort Worth and Tarrant County to spur business growth and economic development.
The other two buildings will be a public-private sector project built with city-issued bonds secured by lease payments from the Texas A&M system and private sector companies who want to co-locate with university and agency researchers.
The vision is to create a hub of collaboration between key Fort Worth industries and top research, education, and workforce training assets of the Texas A&M System.
Texas A&M University’s School of Law, which has doubled its enrollment since 2019 to approximately 1,200 students, will occupy about half of the Law & Education Building. The construction will be financed with the Permanent University Fund and other System monies.
As part of Thursday’s vote, the Regents authorized $15 million of the $150 million construction budget for design and pre-construction services. As early as May, the board could be asked to give the final authorization for a groundbreaking.
Sharp and other A&M officials were in town last month to unveil the name of the campus and announce that the system would locate in offices in the Burnett Plaza during construction.
Sharp also announced that Stantec would serve as the architect of record for the first building, the Law & Education Building. Stantec will provide lab planning services on the project in partnership with the design architect, Pelli Clarke & Partners.
The construction management teams on the first building will include Turner Construction Company, CARCON Industries, Fort Worth-based Source Building Group Inc., and Dikita Enterprises.
Workers will break ground on the Law & Education Building this summer. It is expected to be completed by 2025. All three buildings are expected to be completed in five or six years.
“A top-10 public research institution ensures Fort Worth’s future is rooted in the next economy driven by an educated workforce, whether it be lawyers, engineers, health care professionals or technology workers whose jobs don’t even exist today,” said Sharp last month. “Thanks to our partners, the city of Fort Worth and Tarrant County, the Texas A&M System is investing in a unique public-private sector endeavor that will be a magnet for economic growth for the North Texas region.”
Texas A&M got its start in Fort Worth with the purchase of the Texas Wesleyan Law School in 2013. Two years ago, Fort Worth and Tarrant County officials, along with representatives of the business community, specifically Fort Worth Now, an organization led by billionaire developer John Goff, invited the Texas A&M System to bring its research and academic infrastructure to the city. Fort Worth is the largest Texas city without a Tier 1 research university, according to officials.
Until now.
“I may be a tea-sip,” Goff said of his education at the University of Texas, “but I can tell you that when it comes to Fort Worth and Tarrant County, I am totally agnostic. I am 100% onboard.
“This was the No. 1 focus of mine personally, as well as Fort Worth Now, to get this deal done. It is a game changer. This will have so much impact. I can’t tell you how many companies have embraced this and are chomping at the bit to be a partner.”
Fort Worth Now has been renamed the Fort Worth Tarrant County Innovation Partnership.