In the afternoon sun Nov. 11, a final beam — in Aggie maroon embellished with white paint pen signatures — was lifted more than 250 feet up in the air to the top of the first building being constructed for the new Texas A&M Fort Worth campus in downtown.
The placement of that beam was part of the “topping off” ceremony that marked the end of one phase of the Law and Education building’s construction. City, county, business and university leaders gathered in a white tent adjacent to the building to celebrate progress toward building a public university campus downtown and what that will mean to Fort Worth and its residents upon completion.
“We’re not just raising buildings here in Fort Worth. We’re raising the bar on education, and this is going to mean so much to the definition of this city in the future,” said John Goff, chairman of the Fort Worth-Tarrant County Innovation Partnership, the public-private partnership behind the campus. “Cities are defined more by big institutions, educational institutions, than they are by companies. This is going to be a collaboration that’s going to have a lasting impact on Fort Worth.”
Four years ago, the dream of building an urban university campus was only a germ of an idea when a small group of folks set out to make it a reality, Goff said.
“We needed a Tier One research center, and (A&M) needed a presence in an urban location,” said former Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price, who was sitting in the audience at the ceremony. “I called (Texas A&M Chancellor John) Sharp, and he said, ‘Round up some people. Bring them down.’ And it went from there.”
That meant a commitment to build what is planned as a three-building campus downtown near the convention center. It meant establishing an innovation district, where the university will be, in Goff’s words, “so much more than just a campus.” He envisions the campus as a hub of academic collaboration with businesses, including biomedical research, engineering and visual production.
The Aggie maroon steel beam makes it to the top of the @tamufortworth Law and Education building. It marks the completion of one phase of construction. pic.twitter.com/EcbovylSuH
— Shomial Ahmad (@shomial) November 12, 2024
The cement floors and pillars have gone up in the eight-story building, its internal skeleton now visible to drivers on Interstate 30. The internal plan for the building is in place — with spaces mapped out for a law library, biotech labs, a moot court for law students, a welding and a metal cutting lab and an event space on the eighth floor with over 30-foot ceilings, among other anticipated uses.
Larry Tedesco, the project executive with Turner Construction, one of three construction companies working on the building, was matter-of-fact on what the beam’s placement means.
“(It’s) just another milestone of many, many more,” said Tedesco, from his seat beneath the white tent in the parking lot.
Crews broke ground on the building last summer. This October, they were finished with the internal infrastructure. Now, the reflective windows are being installed and, every other week, a floor of windows will be completed, while inside ductwork and pipes are installed. In December, the limestone and brick outer shell of the building will make its debut.
The building is expected to be complete in 2026. The campus’ second multi-unit facility, the Research & Innovation Building, is currently in the design phase.
Cage Sawyers, a third-year law student at Texas A&M School of Law and the student representative to the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents, said the establishment of the downtown campus will attract and retain talent in the city.
“It’s going to be gasoline to what is possible when the A&M system is behind something. You attract the top talent from Texas and across the nation, and you give them fuel to chase dreams,” Sawyers said.
For Mayor Mattie Parker, Texas A&M coming to town and building a campus that some leaders say will be second only to its flagship campus in College Station, is “truly a gift” to the city and its future. It’s representative of the big things coming to Fort Worth, she said.
“There will be projects in the city that are foundational, and that are catalytic,” said Parker, who assumed office in 2021. “And, as your mayor, I think this is probably the most catalytic project I’ll get to be a part of.”
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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The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.