Rendering courtesy of The Texas A&M University System
Texas A&M's downtown Fort Worth campus will comprise three buildings, anchored by the existing law school, which will be torn down and rebuilt.
Downtown Fort Worth is about to get a big "whoop"-ing.
The Texas A&M University System announced Wednesday that it plans to expand in Fort Worth with a three-building research campus anchored by the existing School of Law at 1515 Commerce St. The law school building will get torn down and rebuilt, while two new developments — the Texas A&M System Research and Innovation Center, and Education Alliance Building — will stand along Jones Street on what's currently a parking lot.
The System owns four blocks in the area, and the City of Fort Worth has nearby property that could also become available.
Representatives of the A&M System, the City of Fort Worth, Tarrant County, and economic development nonprofit Fort Worth Now signed a memorandum outlining plans for the campus last week.
Courtesy of The Texas A&M University System
The new campus will have proximity to the Fort Worth Convention Center, Water Gardens, and other downtown landmarks.
The impetus for the new campus stems from Fort Worth Now's recommendation for a "tier one research institution" to strengthen the area's industrial and employment base and make the city more attractive for company relocations, Fort Worth Now chairman John Goff says.
According to the 2020 Census, Fort Worth has a population of nearly one million residents and is growing faster than any major U.S. city; but nearly half of the 1.2 million adults in Tarrant County (age 25 and older) lack a college degree, and one in four county households has an annual income below $30,000.
"What if we can convince A&M to create a major presence in this urban environment? There is nothing that would transform this city more than to have a tier one university of this caliber here," Goff says. "If we want to attract talent and corporations which will not only come here but stay here, we've got to have that attribute."
The campus will be constructed in phases starting with the Research and Innovation Center, which will host conferences and offer professional, technical, and university courses by the Texas A&M School of Law, Tarleton State University, Texas A&M University, the Texas A&M Health Science Center, and other alliance members. There are also discussions about bringing programs in emergency response communication, medical technologies, advanced manufacturing, nutrition, biotechnology, medical laboratory science, and nursing to the center, as well as creating an incubator for business startups. Six Fort Worth employers — Alcon, AT&T, Bell, Elbit Systems of America, Lockheed Martin, and Philips — have expressed interest in research collaboration.
Tarleton State University, a member of the A&M System, also plans to move its health-related offerings to the downtown Fort Worth campus so students have better proximity to hospitals, clinics, and labs.
Rendering courtesy of The Texas A&M University System
A plaza at the center will connect the three buildings of Texas A&M's planned downtown campus in Fort Worth.
Also in the works is a new, "state-of-the-art" building for the law school, A&M says, which will replace its current home in the former Southwestern Bell call switching facility that was converted for office use. The A&M System acquired the school from Texas Wesleyan eight years ago.
According to A&M, the law school has experienced the largest jump to its reputational score of any law school in the U.S., passing Baylor University and the University of Houston in the latest U.S. News & World Report rankings.
Fort Worth city council member Elizabeth Beck, an A&M Law School alum, says conversations among Fort Worth Now, law school dean Robert Ahdieh, and A&M System chancellor John Sharp have been going on long before she was elected.
"Fort Worth, I think it is an amazing opportunity for us. It revitalizes an area of downtown that has been slow to really pick up and see a lot of movement. It connects the Tarleton nursing program a mile from our medical district. It brings a Tier 1 research institution to Fort Worth. It really puts us on the map from an education standpoint. It's a great day for the city," Beck says. "What I appreciate is Texas A&M could have just come into Fort Worth and just said this is what we’re doing. They didn’t do that. They met with community stakeholders, and they really got a feel for what Fort Worth wants to see there. It bodes well for the partnership you’re going to see as we move forward."
While A&M has not announced a specific project timeline or fundraising plans, the memorandum signed last week serves as a "non-binding statement of the parties’ intentions," allowing for more discussion and planning in the coming months, according to the university. Various aspects of the project are pending approval from the Board of Regents, Fort Worth City Council, and Tarrant County Court of Commissioners.
Still, that hasn't made Fort Worth Aggie fans less excited.
"We're going to build Fort Worth into a hub of research and technology that would create jobs and spur business growth like no other. We're only limited to our imaginations," Sharp says. "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Aggieland North."
This article has been updated from a previous version.