Texas A&M now expects to spend a lot more money to build its Fort Worth campus
Texas A&M is significantly raising its budget to build its new campus in downtown Fort Worth.
The university’s board of regents voted Thursday to spend $150 million on the first of three buildings going up along Commerce Street near the Fort Worth Convention Center, up from an original $85 million. The 76% increase in estimated costs is partly attributed to how well received the project has been, attracting more interest than expected, but university officials also point to inflation.
The campus — built on what was once the Hell’s Half Acre red-light district in the 1800s — will expand Texas A&M’s existing law school and later add an education extension building and a research and innovation center. Business leaders expect the university will be a major economic driver, attracting high-tech industries, creating higher-paying jobs and adding thousands of new residents to downtown.
Construction on the law and education building will begin this summer with an estimated 2025 completion. It will likely be about 225,000 gross square feet and nine stories.
“The reason for the increase in budget is because we have had so much more interest in being in Fort Worth than we anticipated,” Deputy Chancellor Billy Hamilton said. “I think it has a lot to do with the welcome and the excitement of the people of Fort Worth, not to mention the growing robust economy and some of the excellent companies that are either headquartered there or operating there.”
The board also voted to appropriate another $6.5 million for pre-construction services and related project costs. A&M has previously appropriated $8.5 million toward those expenses.
Hamilton cited inflation over the past year as another factor in the increased costs. Texas A&M has previously said the second and third buildings would cost $85 million each. Those buildings will be a funded by city-issued bonds secured by lease payments from the Texas A&M System and private-sector companies that want to co-locate with university and researchers, the system said.
The city of Fort Worth and Tarrant County have each committed $2 million toward the campus. Fort Worth is the largest city in the nation without a Tier 1 research university.
A construction timeline for the other two buildings has not been released. Hamilton said further budget increases are possible. The overall cost of the campus now stands around $320 million.
“One of the things that we want to make sure of is that we have the opportunity to change when Fort Worth changes,” Hamilton said. “If you need a particular kind of research or industry, we want to be able to adapt that to some segment of A&M, or the A&M system in Arlington, to take care of it, including educational facilities.”
Hamilton said A&M did not want to be static on plans for the next five years, but rather be flexible enough to serve the needs of people of Tarrant County.
The proposed design of the buildings will likely change from earlier released renderings.
“Our strategy has evolved along with our partnership with the city of Fort Worth and Tarrant County,” Hamilton said. “So we will very soon be bringing to our board construction approval on the first building, and I think you’ll get a clearer idea of where we’re going with the architecture.”
John Sharp, the Texas A&M University System chancellor, said he has been surprised by the warm welcome Texas A&M has received from Fort Worth.
“It is the most enthusiastic reception that Texas A&M has received anywhere in the state of Texas, including College Station,” Sharp said. “I’ve never been more pleased, and that’s really been true since we put the law school there to begin with. We figured out pretty early on that this is our kind of town, and it just keeps growing and keeps growing the relationship.”
