Mid City Times

All three action items were approved at the Research and Innovation Local Government Corporation’s (RILGC) September 24 meeting, which also included a project update.

The City established the RILGC to help accelerate delivery of the planned Texas A&M Fort Worth Campus Project and provide a financing vehicle for the design and construction of the Research and Innovation Building, associated parking infrastructure, and other campus amenities. The approved action items included:

1. Agreement with Texas A&M University System: This will allow both parties to collaborate on designing and estimating the costs for the new Texas A&M Research and Innovation Building (RIB) in an amount not to exceed $18 million.

2. Agreement with project developer AFWP LLC: The developer will manage the design and preconstruction work, with the agreement capped at $19.7 million. This amount includes proceeds from the sale of debt plus about $2.35 million of RILGC funds to cover design and preconstruction services.

3. Resolution to issue Contract Revenue Bonds (Series 2024): This authorizes the issuance and sale of RILGC bonds to finance a portion of the design and pre-construction services cost, debt issuance, and related expenses, with a cap of $18 million. The Texas A&M University System is responsible for payment of all costs associated with the debt.

“The goal here is to have the plan design and preconstruction services completed by November of next year at the latest,” said Roger Venables, the City’s aviation director, who is serving as project manager for the City. “We anticipate about a 12-month process to fully develop those plans to get to a guaranteed maximum price for the project.”

The City Council had already authorized funding for design and preconstruction costs at its September 17 meeting.

Photo: The planned 3.5-acre campus is envisioned to feature three buildings, greenspace, classrooms, laboratories, event spaces, and flexible research space.

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