The cameras were on Gov. Greg Abbott and his launch of the state’s new business courts at Texas A&M University School of Law last week, but there was plenty more going on behind the scenes that will have a significant impact on Fort Worth and North Texas. 

“The business courts are just a harbinger of more things to come,” said John Goff, the founder of Crescent Real Estate, who was key in attracting the university to build a new downtown campus in Fort Worth. “It’s a great example of what a broader commitment by A&M can do, not only at the campus, but ultimately for the city.” 

Among the examples of Texas A&M’s broader commitment to the city is a focus on key economic development areas such as agriculture, aerospace, aviation, manufacturing, health care, and entertainment and media. 

These areas of focus for the school are closely aligned with the city’s economic strengths, Goff said, but also offer opportunities for growth. 

One area where research is already taking place is in agriculture and food processing, he said. 

“Texas A&M is reinventing the food pyramid, that’s how the chancellor refers to it, and they are already locating scientists here,” Goff said. “You’re going to see much of that work taking place in Fort Worth.” 

That work ties in with Fort Worth’s long history in the agriculture and ranching industry, Goff said. 

But another key area with less historical precedent is Fort Worth’s growing presence in the media and entertainment world. The city has garnered interest by television, film studios and gaming companies, but it is hardly thought of in the same breath as Hollywood or Silicon Valley, Goff said. 

Investment already seen includes the ProbablyMonsters video game studio. ProbablyMonsters, headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, received $1.5 million in incentives from the city to set up an office in Fort Worth and hire up to 300 employees. Texas A&M Fort Worth was key to landing that project, said Goff, an investor in the company. 

“They’re already training some students here and the building isn’t even built yet,” Goff said, noting that Fort Worth would never have been able to attract the company without a university partner. 

“That’s all because of the ability we now have to train those kinds of students that they need to hire.” 

Workforce development and training will be a focus of the school and will cross several disciplines, he said. Key training areas could be aerospace and manufacturing, health care and hospitality.

Goff has learned firsthand how important that training is for the hospitality industry. 

“Just opening the Crescent Hotel here, alongside of all the other hotels that have opened and are in the works here, we’re seeing that we don’t have enough trained workers to really accommodate the growth of the city,” Goff said. “That’s a very important component.” 

The Law and Education building, the first of a planned three-building complex, is currently under construction. The second building, the Texas A&M Fort Worth Research and Innovation building, will include public and private research and development in engineering, defense and health sciences, among other sectors, said Robert Ahdieh, dean of the Texas A&M School of Law. 

Lockheed Martin has already signed a memorandum of understanding to discuss jointly developing education courses, workforce training and research programs, including the possibility of Lockheed researchers working alongside the staff and students at Texas A&M Fort Worth.

But even before that building breaks ground, there will be engineering students in the new Law and Education building currently under construction, Ahdieh said. 

“That building is half law, but the other half is engineering, health sciences, biotech, agriculture and nutrition,” Ahdieh said. “We have engineering labs and the number of engineering students who will be studying, learning and earning their degrees right here in downtown, we expect rapid growth in that.” 

Helping put together those partnerships with industry is the Fort Worth-Tarrant County Innovation Partnership, the organization begun in 2020 as Fort Worth Now. 

Texas A&M also has a contract to manage eight state agencies, with several setting up offices on the new Fort Worth campus in the Research and Innovation building. Tenants will include agencies specializing in transportation, engineering, agriculture and emergency management. 

Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at bob.francis@fortworthreport.org. 

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