Texas A&M-Fort Worth is accelerating another piece of its downtown expansion.
The A&M System Board of Regents voted Sept. 3 to move the project initiation of its Virtual Production Institute Fort Worth from fiscal 2028 to fiscal 2027 and raise its budget by $8.45 million, to $33.45 million. They also provided $2.5 million for preconstruction work. The vote did not authorize construction.
The proposed 30,000-square-foot, single-story building will house classrooms, laboratories, offices, a production studio and specialized equipment for A&M’s College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts.
It will sit at the southern edge of the Texas A&M-Fort Worth campus, bounded by East Lancaster Avenue, East 17th Street, Calhoun Street and Jones Street.
Texas A&M initially planned to place the facility inside the $300 million Research and Innovation Building-A. Les Williams, Texas A&M’s senior associate vice president and chief facilities officer, told regents that it turned into a stand-alone project due to the program’s specialized architectural requirements.
The revised funding budget cuts the project’s planned Permanent University Fund borrowing from $25 million to $12.5 million. Another $12.5 million would come from investment earnings, and the remaining $8.45 million from the College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts’ education and general funds.
The budget covers construction and specialized equipment. Texas A&M would purchase and install the equipment separately from the construction project.
Virtual production combines large LED walls, motion-tracking cameras and real-time game engines to place performers or objects inside computer-generated environments. Unlike green-screen production, which generally adds scenery afterward, the technology allows the physical and digital elements to appear together during filming.
Texas A&M plans to apply the technology to film and entertainment as well as training and simulations for healthcare, manufacturing, aerospace, military and emergency response personnel.
“Virtual production sits at the crossroads of creativity, technology and workforce preparation,” said Tim McLaughlin, dean of the College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts, in a February news release.
The institute is based in Bryan-College Station with an extension in Fort Worth. The Texas Legislature previously provided $25 million for institute faculty, staff and equipment across the two cities. Williams told trustees that the state appropriations will also help fund the Fort Worth project.
Texas A&M officials say two virtual production stages already exist in Fort Worth. Another opened in College Station in 2025, and a fourth is planned there. A virtual production minor and related courses are already offered in both cities.
The stand-alone facility will become another piece of Texas A&M’s multiblock downtown expansion. In August, the system opened its eight-story Law and Education Building and broke ground the same day on the 11-story Research and Innovation Building-A, scheduled for completion in 2029.
“This site is on the south side of the new Law and Education Building,” Regent Randy Brooks said at the meeting. “So we’re just starting our march of buildings here that goes north up Calhoun.”
Dang Le is the higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at dang.le@fortworthreport.org.
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The Report’s higher education coverage is supported in part by major higher education institutions in Tarrant County, including Tarleton State University, Tarrant County College, Texas A&M-Fort Worth Christian University, Texas Wesleyan University, the University of Texas at Arlington and UNT Health Fort Worth.
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