Texas A&M announces new details about a second new building at Fort Worth campus
Texas A&M has released new details about plans for its second building at its Fort Worth campus.
At a Thursday meeting, the university system’s board of regents gave a green light to begin designing what will be the second new building, dubbed Research and Innovation Building A.
Building A is slated to house a number of Texas A&M system agencies. Texas A&M’s transportation institute, engineering experiment station, engineering extension service, AgriLife Research agency and the Texas Division of Emergency Management are all expected to be part of the research campus.
“Our state agencies bring a whole different dynamic to the campus, whether through research, workforce training or other services to the community and local businesses,” Chancellor John Sharp said in a statement.
Sharp, a longtime proponent of the Fort Worth campus, will be retiring next June.
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Texas A&M began construction last year on its eight-story, $185 million Law and Education Building, which is set to be completed in December 2025. Research and Innovation Building A will be adjacent to it, across from the Convention Center.
A second research-focused building is also a possibility. Texas A&M’s “long-range plans leave space for future expansion for Research & Innovation Building B,” the university said.
Building A could cost as much as $260 million, according to Texas A&M. That’s about $80 million more than the under-construction Law and Education building, which is being financed by bonds backed by Texas’ Permanent University Fund.
Building A will be financed by tenant leases, donations and parking revenue. Its 150,000 square feet of lab space and offices for Texas A&M agencies will cost $150 million alone. The rest of the property will have space for private-sector partners and parking.
A new rendering of the future campus was also released on Thursday.
It is unclear when construction of Building A could begin.
A number of national and regional firms will plan and construct Building A and the campus’ third structure, the Gateway Building. Infrastructure and real estate firm Edgemoor, Dallas developer KDC, design firms Smith Group and Bennett Partners, and builders Clark Construction and Byrne Construction are expected to work on both projects.
The multi-purpose Gateway Building will go up where the existing law school building stands now.
Building A is also slated to house public and private research programs focused on a range of fields, including aerospace, defense, engineering, health science and computer-based visualization technology. An extension of the university’s new, cutting edge Visual Production Institute will be part of the Fort Worth campus.
The city and Tarrant County are partnering with Texas A&M to establish the research campus. Local companies looking to train the next generation of their workforce are expected to partner, too.
At the groundbreaking for campus’ first building in June 2023, it was announced that aerospace and defense manufacturer Lockheed Martin, aviation and defense company Elbit Systems of America, and eye care giant Alcon had made corporate partnerships with the Fort Worth campus. Companies will help design curriculum and lab spaces for research and innovation programs.
The Fort Worth campus will span four blocks between East 16th and East 13th streets. It will be the city’s first Tier One research university.
The 3.5-acre campus is expected to breathe life into underdeveloped land in the heart of downtown. The site has been home to parking lots for years, but in the late 1800s it was part of the red-light district Hell’s Half Acre.
City leaders have lauded the development as transformative for the city. It is expected to add jobs, increase property values, boost local workforce training and attract businesses, potentially lowering the residential tax burden.
This story was originally published August 1, 2024 at 3:48 PM.
