Edgemoor Infrastructure and Real Estate and KDC have been selected to lead the design and construction of the Texas A&M–Fort Worth campus downtown.
The Fort Worth City Council was briefed on the selection at its Feb. 21 work session.
Edgemoor, based in Bethesda, Maryland, and Dallas-based KDC will work to create a development that will act as a hub for collaboration between key Fort Worth industries and research education and the university’s workforce training assets, according to city documents. The selection committee includes representatives from the city, Tarrant County, Texas A&M University System and industry officials.
“Edgemoore’s been in this business for 20 years, and they really specialize in innovation hubs, really what we’re trying to accomplish in the southeast quadrant of downtown,” said Roger Venables, aviation director for the city of Fort Worth, in his briefing to the council.
KDC is known for working on large projects such as the Toyota campus in Plano and the BNSF campus in Fort Worth. Edgemoor has worked with several universities, including George Mason University and the University of Kansas. The Edgemoor+KDC team will include Smith Group + Bennett Partners for design, Clarke/Byrne for construction, JLL for commercial leasing, and ACARI Management Group for community engagement.
The city will enter into exclusive negotiations with Edgemoor and KDC to finalize the general terms of an agreement for the design and construction of two buildings and the campus plaza, along with the requisite real estate transaction documents and master agreement with Texas A&M University System to begin work on the project.
According to city documents, proposals were received from Caddis Partners, Lincoln Property Company, Ancora, Edgemoor+KDC, and Hunt Companies Inc. Three developers were chosen by the committee to interview.
“There were five proposals that were submitted, all quality proposals, very thoughtful,” said Venables.
The informal report document says the committee selected Edgemoor+KDC because they presented a compelling vision of a campus that meets TAMU’s goals and engages innovative companies from the business community, as well as local community interests, and provided a compelling conceptual design.
At its meeting Feb. 9, the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents approved plans to expand the costs for the first of the three buildings set for construction, the Law & Education Building, from $85 million to $150 million.
The increase is a response to demand from corporate clients for space in the building as well as an increase in construction costs. The board authorized about 225,000 gross square feet — an estimated nine floors to house programs in law, engineering, business and health sciences, among others.
“The reason for the increase in budget is because we have had so much more interest in being in Fort Worth than we anticipated,” said Billy Hamilton, deputy chancellor of the board.
The Texas A&M System will construct the Law & Education Building, which is expected to be complete in 2025, funded by bonds backed by the Permanent University Fund and other system sources.
The other two buildings – the Research and Innovation building and the Gateway conference center and offices – will be a public-private sector project built with 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 agency researchers,
In November 2021, Texas A&M announced plans to build a top-tier research campus on its land downtown — a development now officially known as Texas A&M-Fort Worth.
The planned research campus will include a high-rise complex that will house classrooms, labs, research and “maker” spaces that can be used by the public and private sectors for academic programs, workforce training and collaborative research.
In January, Texas A&M announced that Stantec will serve as the architect of record for the Law & Education building with design architect Pelli Clarke & Partners assisting with the labs. Construction management teams include Turner Construction Company, CARCON Industries, Source Building Group Inc., and Dikita Enterprises.
Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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