Texas A&M Breaks Ground on First Building for New Fort Worth Campus

Texas A&M Chancellor John Sharp, A&M System Chair Bill Mahomes, Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker, Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare, A&M President M. Katherine Banks, Tarleton State President James Hurley, and Private Investor John Goff were all there for the groundbreaking ceremony. That kicked off the construction of a four-block, three-building project to turn the Texas A&M University School of Law into Texas A&M-Fort Worth.

Texas A&M-Fort Worth’s first building is the Law & Education Building, an eight-story, $150 million new home for the School of Law, as well as “other academic offerings” from Texas A&M, Texas A&M Health, and Tarleton State. This building should be finished in 2025.

The second building will be the Research & Innovation (R&I) Building, where the private sector will collaborate with A&M System agencies.

The third building will be the Gateway Building, which will house offices, classrooms, meeting spaces, and a conference center. Both the R&I and Gateway buildings are scheduled to be completed in 2027.

Of note, the construction of the campus will be funded in a unique way: the first building will be funded by Texas A&M fully, but the second and third buildings will be funded by a partnership between A&M, the City of Fort Worth, Tarrant County, and private leasing. A&M says that this funding arrangement will knock about 10 years off of the construction time compared to if they funded the campus expansion alone.

Sharp is optimistic about the investment. “A top 10 public research institution ensures Fort Worth’s future is rooted in the next economy driven by an educated workforce whether it be lawyers, engineers, healthcare professionals or technology workers whose jobs don’t even exist today,” he said. “Thanks to our partners, the city of Fort Worth and Tarrant county, the Texas A&M system is investing in a unique public-private sector endeavor that will be a magnet for economic growth for the North Texas region.”

The Texas A&M School of Law was founded in 1989 by Texas Wesleyan University (TWU). In 2013, Texas A&M acquired the law school from TWU for $73 million.

Sharp met with officials from Fort Worth and Tarrant County in 2020 about expanding A&M’s presence in the city, as Fort Worth is the largest Texas city without a large research university. Those discussions led to a plan in 2021 to transform the University of Law into Texas A&M-Fort Worth.

For Fort Worth, the new campus provides a means to strengthen the local workforce. “The Texas A&M System is building exactly what Fort Worth needs in this moment in our history. This groundbreaking today represents countless future careers in law, medical technology, nursing and engineering, all of which are vital to meeting the need for a highly-skilled workforce in Fort Worth and North Texas for decades to come,” said Parker in a statement.

O’Hare also expressed satisfaction with the project. “The Texas A&M System’s project will be incredibly vital to the long-term success of Tarrant County,” he said. “It will bring in multiple high-quality business relocations to partner with the university and will enhance an already first-class downtown.”

Multiple local companies are excited about potentially partnering with Texas A&M-Fort Worth, with Lockheed Martin going so far as to sign a memorandum of understanding with the campus.

“Lockheed Martin is proud to continue collaborating with Texas A&M University through this memorandum of understanding, establishing an additional talent pipeline of quality engineers in Fort Worth,” said Bridget Lauderdale, vice president of Lockheed Martin. “Together, we will continue our joint, cutting-edge research to deliver innovative solutions for 21st Century security challenges, providing transformational capabilities in support of national security.”

Other corporations like Alcon, Philips, and Elbit have also publicly spoken about their interest.

“Elbit America is excited that the Texas A&M System is establishing an Innovation and Research Center in Fort Worth,” said President & CEO Raanan Horowitz. “Having this center in our community will create greater opportunities for local industry and academia to intersect. I’m looking forward to partnering with Texas A&M, developing tomorrow’s technologies in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and advanced manufacturing to support our defense, medical, and first responder customers.”

There was so much interest in collaboration that A&M chose to expand the Law & Education Building budget from $85 million to $150 million.

This is seen as a win-win between Fort Worth and Texas A&M, as Fort Worth seeks to establish its innovation zone downtown to pair with its renovation of the Fort Worth Convention Center. A&M will now have direct access to the Dallas-Fort Worth area and all of the companies within.

“It’s one of those things that cities and universities don’t get to that often come together and create something that we believe is going to be as special as it is,” said Robert Albritton, regent of the Texas A&M University System. “Not just for the students. That’s easy.” It’s for the industry. It’s for the things that I do believe we will be able to bring to the city of Fort Worth in the businesses that call this town their home.”