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The site for the new UTA West campus will be near the Parker and Tarrant County border, in a fast growing area of North Texas with lots of new housing developments, including Walsh. (Cristian ArguetaSoto | Fort Worth Report)
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The landscape of Parker County — an area known for its open pastures and ranch land — has experienced drastic change over the past decade. And with the August announcement of plans to build a new University of Texas at Arlington campus, the area is set to see more. 

“It’s going to drive a lot more change, I’m sure,” said Shelby Kimball, a broker associate for Kimball Real Estate, with offices in Parker and Tarrant counties. “It’s going to spur a lot of commercial development. If you have students going to school there and they’re living nearby, they need to eat somewhere, they need to shop somewhere, they need to live somewhere. The professors and staff will need to live somewhere.”

Earlier this month, UTA announced plans to purchase 51 acres of land in the Walsh development near Aledo, where Interstates 20 and 30 merge west of Interstate 820. The first building is expected to be complete in fall 2028. Years later, when the campus is built out, UTA officials anticipate serving more than 10,000 students. 

UTA West’s first building is expected to be complete in fall 2028. It will initially serve a few thousand students, with plans at full buildout to educate more than 10,000 students. (Courtesy image | University of Texas at Arlington)

“We’re going to attract new businesses. The students that are coming in are going to go work for those businesses, as well as decide to engage in entrepreneurship and create their own,” UTA President Jennifer Cowley told the Report. “Having higher education in your community is just a tremendous asset from an economic development perspective, but it also fosters the social and cultural development of a community.”

Over the past decade, what was once open tracts of land has seen a lot more development. A housing boom has hit the region, with projects like Walsh and Morningstar building suburban housing developments. Retail development has followed, including the 2019 opening of an H-E-B grocery store in Hudson Oaks, 10 miles west of Aledo. The Tex-Mex restaurant chain Chuy’s is set to open soon. And early in 2025, a Costco Wholesale store will open its doors in Weatherford.

Due to high mortgage rates, Kimball said, housing inventory in Parker County is the highest it has been in a decade. With headlines trumpeting the arrival of a new campus and lower mortgage rates, he foresees housing developments kicking into higher gear.

Parker County is one of the nation’s fastest growing counties, in terms of percentage population increase from 2021 to 2022. With that growth comes growing pains. News of a 51-acre college campus west of Fort Worth brought both excitement and concern to the forefront of residents’ minds. 

“I’m so glad this is going to be there instead of big giant warehouses, or an ugly industrial site. I’m hopeful that this is the start of other ‘attractive’ commercial and high density residential that is certainly coming,” said Justin Lauderdale, an accountant who lives in Aledo and has lived in west Fort Worth or eastern Parker County his whole life.

Others were excited about what the campus would mean for their own opportunities.

“When I read the news about the new UTA West campus, I immediately called my husband. I let him know this may be the answer to what most parents worry about, affordable college tuition,” said Angelique Urquidez, who has 15-year-old triplets attending Aledo High School.

UTA West will be built on 51 acres of prairie in west Fort Worth, near Aledo. Above is land near the proposed site of UTA West. (Shomial Ahmad | Fort Worth Report)

But there was also concern about what was once considered a rural area becoming just another Fort Worth suburb.

“I know I am not the only one who has been sad to see all the beautiful ranchland being sold off by the younger generations,” said Paula Rouyre, who works as a controller for a landscape company and has lived in Aledo since 1996. 

The area is becoming overcrowded with housing developments, Rouyre said. 

“Traffic is terrible, schools are crowded, crime is increasing,” she said. “Not to mention the strain on our water wells and roads. Home values will eventually be negatively affected by oversaturation of the market.” 

UTA officials have been in active talks to address future infrastructure needs around the proposed site of UTA West. Addressing these needs are part of the university’s multiyear plan, with some roadway construction already underway, said Joe Carpenter, chief communications officer at UTA. 

“Anticipated infrastructure consists of roadways, water, sanitary sewer, storm sewer, as well as electricity and natural gas,” said Carpenter. “We are continuing to have conversations with utility providers and anticipate much of the infrastructure construction to occur in 2025.”

Traffic and increased commute times were among the issues raised by residents. From Weatherford, Interstate 20 is the only major highway with two lanes on each side. Traffic is often at a standstill, residents said. Other areas of concern are Interstate 30 between Linkcrest and Loop 820, which is a bottleneck. 

There are current plans to add lanes to Interstate 30, construct interchanges at Walsh Ranch Parkway, and construct ramps near the merger of Interstates 20 and 30, according to a document obtained from the North Central Texas Council of Governments. 

Those concerns have not dampened local enthusiasm for what many see as a game-changer for the western frontier of North Texas. Kimball, who has lived in the Parker County town of Annetta for more than 15 years, is excited about the prospects. 

“It’s a school. It’s education. It’s opportunity,” said Kimball, a past president of the Greater Fort Worth Association of Realtors. “Schools tend to be stable employers, especially when the’re big state universities.”

He often advises clients who buy big tracts of land that what might be a hay pasture next to their property now could be a dozen houses in a few years. Now, he can add another piece of advice to the list: Get ready for UTA West. 

Shomial Ahmad is a higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report, in partnership with Open Campus. Contact her at shomial.ahmad@fortworthreport.org.

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