This story originally appeared on fortworthreport.org
By: McKinnon Rice
When the Fort Worth Now task force was presented with issues and opportunities in the city, one deficit was glaring, co-chair John Goff said: The city was the largest in the country without a Tier 1 research institution.
The task force, created by former Mayor Betsy Price to support the city’s economy as it grappled with the impacts of the pandemic, got to work. It addressed immediate pandemic-related business issues as well as looked at the bigger, more challenging picture.
“The more difficult part was, how do we take Fort Worth and make it stronger economically as we exit the pandemic?” Goff said.
Five years later, Fort Worth is one of the fastest growing large cities in the nation. Economic development and higher education are closely linked as the area looks to attract both students and businesses, according to a group of college leaders featured on a Fort Worth Report panel.
The roots of the current effort can be traced to when Goff connected with Texas A&M School of Law Dean Robert Ahdieh. Ahdieh showed Goff the law school’s downtown campus, including a view from the roof.
Goff saw big opportunity in Texas A&M’s room to expand.
“We got up on top, and I looked down at this land, and I said, ‘This is amazing. It’s just sitting here ripe for development of a major campus,’” Goff said.
A&M is just one of seven area institutions that are growing. It is planning for five new buildings in downtown Fort Worth, the first of which will be the Law and Education Building expected to open in 2026.
Farther out from the city’s center, Tarleton State Fort Worth recently opened the second building on its southwest Fort Worth campus.
Texas Christian University plans to increase its student body by 5,000 as part of its 10-year strategic plan. It is also building developments along Berry Street that will house students and host retail shops.
The University of Texas at Arlington broke ground in April for UTA West, a new campus in the Walsh development, with a planned opening in 2028.
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