New Texas A&M System Center Eyed For Downtown Fort Worth

Artist’s impression of the campus slated for Downtown Fort Worth.

Texas A&M University System

Fort Worth government and business leaders and officials from the Texas A&M University Systems are collaborating on plans to build a new downtown research campus to drive innovation and business development.

The shared vision is to create a hub for collaboration between Fort Worth’s key industries and the cutting edge research, education and employee training resources of the Texas A&M system. The common goal is to stimulate business and employment growth in one of the fastest growing cities in the country and across North Texas.

The Texas A&M System Research and Innovation Center would be built next to a new Education Alliance Building that would host conferences and offer professional, technical, and university courses taught 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 are offered.

The innovation center and new education building, along with a new state-of-the-art law school at 1515 Commerce Street, would form the core of a new urban campus. The buildings would be built in stages, starting with the research and innovation center. To download an artist’s renderings of the proposed buildings please go to https://www.tamus.edu/ft-worth/

“The A&M system is a Texas-sized commitment to Fort Worth,” said Chancellor John Sharp. “Welcome to Aggieland Nord.”

The system is four blocks in the area and the city of Fort Worth has nearby land that may become available. The area is adjacent to two major attractions, the Convention Center and the Water Gardens. It is a short walk from two public transportation and is close to two interstate highways that provide easy access to the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area and the surrounding area. The city plans to expand the convention center, add more hotel rooms, and other nearby improvements.

A memorandum outlining the efforts for the Texas A&M System Urban Campus in Fort Worth was signed last week by representatives of the A&M System, the City, Tarrant County and Fort Worth Now, a privately funded group that was formed to Support businesses and economic growth in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ombudsmen seek help from a university of excellence to strengthen the region’s industrial and employment base. The 2020 census results show that Fort Worth has a population of nearly one million and is growing faster than any other major US city. However, nearly half of Tarrant County’s 1.2 million adults (aged 25 and over) do not have a college degree. One in four households in the county has an annual income of less than $ 30,000.

A & M’s Research and Innovation Center will host a wide range of initiatives involving the system’s network of government agencies. Discussions so far include programs in emergency communications, medical technology, advanced manufacturing, nutrition, biotechnology, medical laboratory science, and nursing.

Six well-known Fort Worth employers – Alcon, AT&T, Bell, Elbit Systems of America, Lockheed Martin, and Philips – are interested in collaborating on specific research areas. A business start-up incubator could move to the A&M center.

The system authorities involved would be the Texas Division of Emergency Management, the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service, Texas A&M AgriLife Research, and the Texas A&M Transportation Institute.

A new law school would serve as the front door and academic anchor of the city campus.

The current law school is housed in the former Southwestern Bell call operator, which has been converted to office use. The school also uses rented rooms in a nearby building. The plan is to renovate or rebuild the law school to accommodate growth and provide a state-of-the-art educational environment.

It has made the largest leap in reputation score of any law school in the United States since the A&M system took over the law school eight years ago. It recently overtook its Texan counterparts at Baylor University and the University of Houston in the latest US News & World Report rankings.

Another partner would be Tarleton State University, a member of the A&M system that already has a campus in Fort Worth along the Chisholm Trail Parkway and has leased nursing and other medical-related facilities downtown at Baylor All Saints Medical Center. Tarleton would relocate its health-related offerings to the new urban campus so that students are close to their clinical duties in nearby hospitals, clinics and laboratories.

The memorandum signed last week is a non-binding letter of intent by the parties. It enables discussions and planning to be made in more detail in the coming months. Construction of the buildings would require a number of approvals from the Board of Regents, although the legislature has been on the board’s capital improvement plan for several years.

Major portions of the plans also require approval from the Fort Worth City Council and Tarrant County Court of Commissioners.

New Texas A&M System Center Eyed For Downtown Fort Worth