Finding the funding to realize the dream of Texas A&M Fort Worth downtown is like putting a puzzle together, with many interlocking pieces from the Texas A&M University System, the city, county and private entities.
At a Sept. 10 Fort Worth City Council work session, part of that puzzle began to come together. Next week, council members consider around $20 million in funding for Texas A&M Fort Worth, including its Research and Innovation Building. The 150,000-square-foot building is currently in its design phase.
The expected price tag for the Research and Innovation Building is up to $260 million, according to university system officials. About $150 million of that cost will come from the university system. The remaining amount — up to $110 million — will be financed through a cooperative agreement with city and private sector partners.
“The (Texas A&M) Board of Regents gave the thumbs up to move forward with what is the next real milestone,” said Roger Venables, the city’s aviation director, who spoke about the downtown campus at the Sept. 10 meeting. “It will be design, preconstruction services. This will essentially get us to 100% architectural schematics, construction plans, permit approvals and gross maximum price for the project.”
On Aug. 1, the Texas A&M Board of Regents approved an interlocal agreement for the Research and Innovation Building. Venables asked the city to consider two finance proposals that will move the project forward.
One proposal is to allow the Research and Innovation Local Government Corporation, or RILGC, to issue up to $18 million in bonds through commercial banks to pay for the full design and preconstruction costs. The RILGC is a local government corporation set up by the city to help raise funds for the downtown campus. If approved, the bonds are expected to close on Oct. 23. The money to service the debt paid for by the bonds ultimately will be paid by the Texas A&M University System.
The second proposal up for council approval would transfer $2.35 million from Fort Worth’s economic development department to the local government corporation’s general fund.
That $2.35 million comes from a $5 million pool of COVID-19 federal relief dollars that the city set aside to fund Texas A&M Fort Worth. To date, $2.65 million has been spent or allocated for the downtown campus, leaving $2.35 million in available funds.
The council is expected to vote on the proposals Sept. 17. At the local government corporation’s Sept. 24 meeting, the group will consider a resolution authorizing the bonds and approving an interlocal agreement with the university system.
The Research and Innovation Building would house public and private research and development in engineering, defense and health sciences, among other sectors. Already among the building’s tenants are several Texas A&M agencies, which specialize in transportation, engineering, agriculture and emergency management.
Officials broke ground on the $185 million Law and Education Building last summer. The construction budget for that building has more than doubled from initial estimates and is expected to be complete in December 2025. The other two buildings in the downtown campus have not yet moved to the construction phase.
Shomial Ahmad is a higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report, in partnership with Open Campus. Contact her at shomial.ahmad@fortworthreport.org.
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