The site of the demolished west side of the University Center sits Sept. 21. Construction on the UC is expected to be complete by January 2029.
The west side of the University Center is almost completely demolished, apart from cement floor foundations and the basement remaining.
The facade of Palo Duro Lounge, which faced south, was completely taken down Sept. 21, said Bear Lunce, UC and Commons associate director.
Lunce said the construction perimeter was extended outward so the second-story part of the facade could be taken down on Sept. 19, when fewer people would be present on campus. By Sept. 21, the perimeter had been moved back.
“I feel a lot,” he said. “There’s still excitement for the new project, the new things to come; there’s sadness because how much student life is gone, there’s sadness because of how much personal time I spent doing stuff in those areas.”
Departments and some services began leaving the west side of the center during the spring 2026 semester. Demolition on the west side of the building started in June.
Once the construction has been completed, a significant portion of the remaining east side of the building will be renovated, according to previous Shorthorn reporting. The center’s renovation is expected to take around 30 months, with completion expected in January 2029.
“Hopefully demolition will be out of here by the end of October, and then in November you’ll start to see a tower crane erected,” Lunce said.
At the May UT Board of Regents meeting, former UTA President Jennifer Cowley said the interior of the project was designed for maximum flexibility.
An excavator scoops up scraps on Sept. 21 at the University Center site. The UC renovations will cost about $160 million.
“The most urgent needs from our students are student organization space, more meeting space, it’s booked out all the time, and more dining options, and so that’s in part what we want to accomplish with this project,” Cowley said at the meeting.
Construction on the original building was completed in 1953.
In that time, the space has seen numerous additions and renovations. Nearly every day for 73 years, students have walked in and out of the University Center, using it as a space for anything from studying for tests to eating a quick meal.
Lunce said that once the project is complete, he hopes that a generation of students comes through the new building, and will be glad that the project was done in the first place.
“You gotta make space to grow,” he said.
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