36 replies to this topic

[FortWorthian]

A game changer.’ UT Arlington plans new campus in this booming Fort Worth development

By Harrison Mantas August 05, 2024 2:00 PM

https://www.star-tel...l#storylink=cpy

 

UTA to build major new campus in west Fort Worth, with sights on 2028 opening

by Shomial Ahmad

August 5, 2024 2:00 pm

https://fortworthrep...n-2028-opening/

 

 

 

 

[Austin55]

Too bad it's not UTFW...

[FortWorthian]

Too bad it's not UTFW...

 

Technically they have UTARI and UTA Fort Worth (downtown) so I could see where that could be confusing if it is not it's own UT system campus...is that what you're proposing a non-UTA entity of its own?

[Austin55]

Well we've got UT Dallas (which is notably not in Dallas but Richardson) and it's roughly the same distance from UTA to UTD as UTA is from UTA West. And Walsh is decidedly not Arlington, and Arlington, to me anyway, doesn't have the name value to carry over into another city like UTD does.

 

Anyways, name semantics aside. Other initial thoughts:

A. This is out of nowhere. 

 

B. The architecture in the renderings looks great. I hope they don't make the whole thing so suburban and build at least an urban edge to it, maybe on the east side. 

 

C. The location is great, that is one of the most prime sites in the entire region at the interchange of two major freeways. 

 

D. Higher-ed in Fort Worth is absolutely booming. 

 

E. It'll be funny if this campus is served gets a Trinity Metro route but he main campus won't have any transit.

[FortWorthian]

Interesting boundaries of this site.  Here's what I can tell so far....

• It's in parker county
• According to this map, it's City of Fort Worth limits https://gis.bisclient.com/parkercad/
• Appears to be in Aledo ISD and possibly an Aledo zip code

[ramjet]

This sounds like an exciting (and unexpected) project!  I'm sure they picked the right location for the school's long term future, but it also would have been nice if they had picked and redeveloped the dead Ridgmar Mall for their west side campus.  Austin Community College redeveloped the old Highland Mall down there and it turned out really nice with classrooms and market housing.

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=3Jr8XnXobis

[steave]

Site plan looks very suburban. This is kind of disappointing honestly.

[Jeriat]

Site plan looks very suburban. This is kind of disappointing honestly.

It's being built out in the suburbs... so this is more expected than anything. 

[FortWorthian]

I am probably wrong, but the renderings have a Lake Flato vibe.

[roverone]

I am probably wrong, but the renderings have a Lake Flato vibe.

 

I agree.

 

In something unrelated: I chased after a banner ad that came up for me earlier today for a tech expo about I guess architectural design tools and one of the speakers is Dan Stine, Director of Design Technology, Lake Flato Architects

 

https://techplus.co/dal24/speakers/

[Austin55]

I am probably wrong, but the renderings have a Lake Flato vibe.

 

For sure, it's got a Hill Country look to it. 

 

Arlington-based LBL Architects are involved to some degree: https://www.facebook...uG7nAfkGXPcjTul

[AndyN]

I agree that UTFW would be a much better name. 

[johnfwd]

I agree.  Like UT-Dallas.  But we also have the A&M and Tarleton branch campuses here without the Fort Worth brand.  Does anyone know if we have more higher education institutions than does Dallas?

[JBB]

Is it worth pointing out that UT Dallas isn't even in the city of Dallas?

[Doohickie]

Is it worth pointing out that UT Dallas isn't even in the city of Dallas?

 

Already been done.

 

Well we've got UT Dallas (which is notably not in Dallas but Richardson)

[JBB]

I missed that.  I'm surprised that the university system would keep the Arlington in the name when this appears to be a standalone campus.

[FortWorthian]

I missed that.  I'm surprised that the university system would keep the Arlington in the name when this appears to be a standalone campus.

The University of Texas at Aledo

[John T Roberts]

I'm all for the University of Texas at Fort Worth.

[Dylan]

I'm not sure whether I'm more disappointed with it not being named Fort Worth, or with it being built far from the core where there's no transit.

Despite its suburban location, it seems like there's barely any room for future expansion.

Edit- I suppose I ought to say something positive about this big project. The park space around the buildings and the pond in the middle look very nice.

[BFrog88]

The lack of statewide public higher education strategy in Texas is putting Fort Worth in the worst place. These university systems are competing against one another in an unhelpful and inefficient way. As the 12th or 13th largest city in the country, youd think we would have a regional comprehensive institution focused on serving the education and workforce needs of the Fort Worth regional economy. But because of the historical placement of UNT in Denton, UTA in Arlington, and UTD in Dallas, plus the raw headcount/brand ambition of the A&M System (through Tarleton State expansion), the Fort Worth vacuum is being filled on all sides by mediocre expansion/satellite campuses that serve their Systems commercial branding purposes more than they serve our local communities and economy.

Rant notwithstanding, the renderings are nice.

[txbornviking]

 

Dallas-Fort Worth is one of the most uneducated areas in the country, says study

 

Read more at: https://www.star-tel...l#storylink=cpy

basically saying we're VERY middle of the pack, On educational attainment, Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington ranked 73 out of 150.

I'd imagine a more granular look would show a gap when comparing the core counties in DFW as evidenced by the types of jobs/companies that seem to be moving this way (let's be honest there is a big skills a pay gap between most warehouse jobs and manufacturing jobs coming to Tarrant County vs the office type jobs growing in Colin County etc.

Hopefully A&M Law, Tarleton Ft Worth, UTA-Ft Worth, etc can help bring balance back to 360West

[johnfwd]

The University of Texas at...Austin, Arlington, Dallas, El Paso, Tyler, San Antonio, Rio Grande Valley, Permian Basin...

[elpingüino]

I missed that.  I'm surprised that the university system would keep the Arlington in the name when this appears to be a standalone campus.

I learned a lot going down an internet rabbit trail about this. Apparently the establishment of new public universities must be enacted through legislation, but an existing university doesn't need to jump through those hoops to open new facilities at a different location. That's how we get Tarleton Fort Worth and Tarleton Waco instead of separate universities. Also, UNT Frisco, Texas A&M Commerce at Dallas, Texas Tech Fredericksburg, UT Tyler at Longview, and on and on. So until UTA West gets legislative approval to become independent, and establishes its own administration, it won't be standalone and probably won't shed the Arlington label.

[John T Roberts]

elpingüino, thanks for the clarification.

[Jeriat]

I'm all for the University of Texas at Fort Worth.

 

 

I agree that UTFW would be a much better name. 

 

 

Too bad it's not UTFW...

Thanks for the inspiration...

[Jeriat]

Just some more images, off-topic.

I like that they brought back Team Builder and it's far more advanced than it was in 2014... they have no kind of Stadium creation feature. That's one of the downsides to this. 

And yes:

- Tangelo (Orange) for Texas
- Persian Indigo (Purple) for Fort Worth
- "Sunset" (the Tan color) is just a good conductor for those two.  

[steave]

Jeriat, that looks badass, that would really work as a team name/colors/brand for them. The pawprint and orange does kind of look like the SHSU Bearkats colors (school I went to) though. I wonder if there's some other secondary logo or mark that would work?

 

I do think that while this will be a satellite of UTA for now there should be a petition to change the name to UT-Fort Worth.

 

Also if you look at Southern California they have Cal State Fullerton, Northridge, Long Beach, Dominiguez, etc along with UC Irvine and Riverside. So I maybe long term North Texas could indeed support multiple big schools.

[Jeriat]

Jeriat, that looks badass, that would really work as a team name/colors/brand for them. The pawprint and orange does kind of look like the SHSU Bearkats colors (school I went to) though. I wonder if there's some other secondary logo or mark that would work?

 

Well a paw print is a paw print. There's very little difference between the few. 

I was thinking of a mascot that isn't really used much and something more unique to Fort Worth. 

Coyotes aren't really just a Fort Worth thing, but just common enough to us, while also not being a very common mascot in FBS. 

[Stadtplan]

Jeriat, that orange, purple and tan really pops.

 

This is more of a cat theme, but I like the aggressive and mysterious look:

 

[mmmdan]

Alice Carlson Elementary's mascot is the coyote.  Not sure if there are other schools in the district that use the coyote.

[elpingüino]

Fort Worth proposes giving UT Arlington $4 million to build Parker County campus

[bclaridge]

 

I missed that.  I'm surprised that the university system would keep the Arlington in the name when this appears to be a standalone campus.

I learned a lot going down an internet rabbit trail about this. Apparently the establishment of new public universities must be enacted through legislation, but an existing university doesn't need to jump through those hoops to open new facilities at a different location. That's how we get Tarleton Fort Worth and Tarleton Waco instead of separate universities. Also, UNT Frisco, Texas A&M Commerce at Dallas, Texas Tech Fredericksburg, UT Tyler at Longview, and on and on. So until UTA West gets legislative approval to become independent, and establishes its own administration, it won't be standalone and probably won't shed the Arlington label.

 

Not only would new legislation need to be enacted, an entirely-new institution would also face additional bureaucratic hurdles, including the accreditation process. Keeping the new campus under UT-Arlington allows it to use UTA's accreditation (and legislative approval).
 

[Big Frog II]

I wonder how the Tarleton people feel about this since they are just now getting their campus going? 

[FortWorthian]

I wonder how the Tarleton people feel about this since they are just now getting their campus going? 

Thats a good point. The advantage being if there was a course offered at the main UTA campus its a bit closer than Stephenville main campus.

[Austin55]

UTA to build netted drone facility in Fort Worth (at UTARI): https://www.uta.edu/...y-in-fort-worth

 

[Urbndwlr]

I wonder how the Tarleton people feel about this since they are just now getting their campus going? 

I would think that UTA and Tarleton wouldn't directly compete for students very often.  Maybe students transferring from TCC into degree programs that both universities have, but I think the schools are very different:

 

I think Tarleton's mission focuses on employment-ready degrees including education, law enforcement, healthcare, IT and cybersecurity.  I think they have a high % of first gen college students (unsure how meaningful that is).

My rough understanding is that Tarleton's focus sounds similar to what I think was the original purpose of land grant universities: to get young people ready for increasingly advanced technical careers to fill workforce needs and be immediately employable upon graduation at good salaries. 

 

UTA, on the other hand, seems to be a true research university, with strengths in STEM field, especially engineering. 

[Urbndwlr]

Jeriat, that looks badass, that would really work as a team name/colors/brand for them. The pawprint and orange does kind of look like the SHSU Bearkats colors (school I went to) though. I wonder if there's some other secondary logo or mark that would work?

 

I do think that while this will be a satellite of UTA for now there should be a petition to change the name to UT-Fort Worth.

 

Also if you look at Southern California they have Cal State Fullerton, Northridge, Long Beach, Dominiguez, etc along with UC Irvine and Riverside. So I maybe long term North Texas could indeed support multiple big schools.

Yeah, maybe most states are this way but your example of the Cal State system tracks. In CA they have the UC system and Cal State system, in Texas we have the UT system and the A&M system.  I suppose UNT's campuses also are considered a system, although its regional, not state-wide.  

 

I think it is 100% logical for UTA West to become UT-Fort Worth and for Texas A&M Fort Worth to become its own campus or branch (whatever they call it when its on its own - currently I think its somehow considered an extension of College Station, which is surprising). Again, getting out on a limb on these - someone on here undoubtedly knows more than I do.