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First building plans started for the new UNT at Dallas Campus
DENTON (UNT), Texas -- By recently approving the selection of an architectural firm and an engineering firm to design the first building on the University of North Texas at Dallas campus, the Board of Regents has put the UNT System on track to begin construction in June 2005. The schedule calls for classes to begin in the new building in January 2007. After evaluating the ten best responses to its Request for Qualifications and then selecting the four best for interviews, the UNT Dallas Campus Master Planning Task Force recommended a team led by Sasaki Associates of Boston and San Francisco to the regents. UNT Chancellor Lee F. Jackson accepted the committee's recommendation and approved Sasaki, a multidisciplinary firm already engaged in creating a master plan for UNT's changing and expanding Denton campus, as the master planner for UNT at Dallas. The team assembled by Sasaki that required and received regent approval includes the architectural services of Aguirre Corporation of Dallas and the civil engineering services of TCB (Turner Collie & Braden Inc.) of Houston. Jackson said, "This is a first class team that will help us set a high standard for the new campus. We are able to acquire the best planning services with the assistance of a very meaningful $500,000 grant from the Communities Foundation of Texas (received in 2003)." Development of the land and construction of the first UNT at Dallas building was made possible by the foresight of state leaders who authorized bonds of $25.5 million in 2003, Jackson said. The proposed schedule for the process is as follows: - Begin design of the first UNT at Dallas building
November 2004
- Complete Master Planning Process for UNT at Dallas
Spring 2005
- Design for the first building complete
June 2005
- Begin construction of first building
June 2005
- Substantially complete construction of the first building
December 2006
- Classes begin in new building
January 2007
The UNT System formed the UNT Dallas Campus Master Planning Task Force to advise on the selection of a master planning firm last June. The UNT System's plans for the new university have progressed steadily since the Southern Dallas County Higher Education Feasibility Study Task Force selected UNT to be its educational partner in September 1998. Major progress toward establishing the new university came in November 2001 when the City of Dallas donated the first 202 acres for the campus. A gift of 57 acres from the Runyon Springs Company and acquisitions brought the campus up to 264 acres in 2002. The new campus in Southern Dallas is bordered on the north by Camp Wisdom Road and on the West by Houston School Road. The drive to launch the new university gained additional momentum in May 2003 when the Texas legislature passed bills making previously authorized funds available for the first UNT at Dallas building and changing the point at which the UNT System can begin securing approvals to establish UNT at Dallas as a full-fledged, university by lowering the enrollment threshold from 2,500 full-time equivalent (FTE) students to 1,000 full-time equivalent students. As soon as the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board can certify that UNT Dallas Campus enrollment has reached 1,000 FTE students, the UNT System can begin the processes to secure approvals and accreditation to offer courses and grant degrees through UNT at Dallas -- a university with its own chief executive officer, administration and faculty. The current UNT Dallas Campus (located at 8915 S. Hampton Road, just three blocks south of I-20), which has been enrolling students for graduate and undergraduate classes and degree programs in southern Dallas since January 2000, will continue to operate as an extension of the University of North Texas campus in Denton until the new university opens. If the new building is completed before the system meets the enrollment goal, it will become the home of the UNT Dallas Campus until the status of a new degree granting University is achieved.
UNT News Service Phone Number: (940) 565-2108
Contact: Roddy Wolper (940) 565-2943
Email: rwolper@unt.edu
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