The UT System signed a contract with New York architecture and design firm Cooper, Robertson & Partners to provide master planning services for the UT-owned Brackenridge Tract.
The UT System Board of Regents unanimously approved a motion in March selecting the firm as the master planner for the redevelopment of the 345-acre tract. In December, board members voted to select an outside firm to design the property located near the banks of Lady Bird Lake, west of MoPac Boulevard.
The board's motion asked the New York firm to submit its proposal and budget for creating at least two conceptual master plans for the tract's development.
The firm's plans will consider parking, building sites, transportation within and between the tract, the surrounding neighborhood, recreational and open space, landscaping, building heights and environmental and endangered species issues, according to the UT System Real Estate Office's Web site.
The master planning process will also work to enable the Board of Regents to use the tract in the best interest of UT-Austin, as designated by Col. Brackenridge, and to achieve redevelopment of the tract in a manner that will not require UT regents to sell portions of the tract.
The firm has not begun the design process, but the regents requested in the March meeting that designs be completed within 12 months of signing the contract, which was finalized April 21. Members of the firm said it will gather the data needed for design work and communicate with the tract's numerous stakeholders, who include graduate students living in University housing, West Austin residents, golfers at Lions Municipal Golf Course, UT-Austin's College of Natural Sciences and the city of Austin.
Cooper, Robertson & Partners has worked on projects at Harvard, Johns Hopkins and Yale universities.
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