Students walk out of the University Center on April 20 at UTA.
The demolition and renovation of UTA’s University Center will begin in June, two university officials confirmed to The Shorthorn.
The UT System Board of Regents will review the project in May before construction begins. The renovation is expected to take about 30 months, with completion projected for January 2029, according to a summary email sent to parents in March.
The west side of the University Center, which includes the Plaza food court, Palo Duro Lounge, the Intercultural Student Engagement Center and the basement area, will be demolished. This portion of the building was constructed throughout the 1950s and ’70s.
Areas on the east side of the building, including Connection Café, Bluebonnet Ballroom, Rosebud Theater, the Follett Student Leadership Center and the Career Development Center, will remain open.
Students walk past Connection Café on Feb. 26, 2025, in the University Center. The cafe will remain open for the first 24 months of UC construction starting June 2026.
Because no academic classes are held inside the University Center, coursework is not expected to be disrupted.
University officials said the renovation addresses decades of additions and aging infrastructure that would otherwise require millions of dollars in repairs.
A filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation on April 21 shows the project will add about 92,300 square feet of new space and renovate roughly 93,400 square feet of the existing structure.
The redesigned center will have two levels above ground, said Collin Ward, director of Capital Projects in Facilities Management, in an email. University officials previously told The Shorthorn in April 2025 that plans called for a three-story building without a basement.
“Although the final square footage will be slightly reduced compared to the existing footprint, the new floor plan will substantially improve the building’s efficiency use ratio and provide significantly more assignable square footage,” Ward said.
The renovation is one of several near and long-term demolition projects outlined in UTA’s Campus Master Plan, which aims to expand student-serving space across campus. UTA enrolled 42,710 students in fall 2025 and is projected to reach about 43,132 on campus by 2033.
The project’s cost
The project is now estimated to cost $160 million, which includes construction, preconstruction and design fees, as well as all soft costs such as insurance, furniture, and technical services, Ward said.
The updated cost estimate is down from $175 million — a figure President Jennifer Cowley presented to the UT System Board of Regents at a May 2025 meeting.
Much of the project will be funded through the student union fee included in tuition, with a small remainder coming from retail revenues, said John Hall, vice president for Administration and Economic Development, in an email.
In 2024, students approved a referendum increasing the student union fee from $39 to $150 per spring and fall semester and $75 per summer semester to help fund the renovation and expansion. A similar measure failed in 2022.
The UT System Board of Regents later approved the increase.
New design’s goal
Student-serving spaces are the top priority for the new design, Ward said.
The new construction will include student meeting and event spaces of different sizes, a student computer lab, expanded dining and common areas and updated Student Affairs offices to better support student services, he said.
The project will also upgrade the building’s electrical and safety systems and add a generator to support the new space. Exterior changes are expected to create more welcoming entrances and better match surrounding campus buildings, Ward said.
“The overall aesthetics will be notably upgraded to align with the contemporary architectural style present throughout the campus,” he said.
What’s staying open?
To prepare for construction, departments inside the University Center are expected to move out by early May, Hall said.
Connection Café will remain open for the first 24 months of construction, while other retail dining locations will temporarily relocate to Rosebud Theater, Ward said.
The UC Market will be located in the hallway across from the restrooms on the building’s east side, and food trucks will be set up nearby to expand dining options for students.
The University Center will continue hosting events in the Bluebonnet Ballroom starting in August during construction, with reservations opening May 1.
The University Center will continue hosting events in the Bluebonnet Ballroom starting in August during construction.
The outdoor deck on the west side of the University Center will be relocated to the west side of the College of Business, Hall said.
A small portion of Lot 38 will be used for contractor mobilization, Ward said, and part of West First Street will be closed during construction for safety.
The Career Development Center will remain open in its current University Center location during construction, but is expected to lose about a quarter of its space as interview rooms and training areas are converted into offices for Dining Services and University Center operations staff, the center’s director, Lolín Martins-Crane, said.
Staff is adjusting the center’s remaining space and working with partners across campus, including academic colleges and UTA Library, to relocate events and continue employer interviews and student career services during construction.
“It’s a little bit of a grieving process, not going to lie, and we quickly have to move through that and get to a place of solution,” Martins-Crane said.
@DangHLe