UNT initiates renovations for North Texas’ first public law school

The UNT Dallas College of Law will begin accepting students in fall 2013.

Carrie Canova

Located in the Titche-Goettinger Building downtown, the $29 million project will be North Texas' first public law school.

DALLAS — When the UNT System purchased the Titche-Goettinger Building in downtown Dallas in 2006, the building was outdated and had four empty floors in need of renovations.

So when the Texas Legislature approved the creation of the UNT Dallas College of Law in 2009, UNT System Chancellor Lee Jackson knew it was time to do something with those empty floors.

“It’ll provide flexibility for UNT to expand in the heart of Dallas,” Jackson said. “Instead of looking for expensive property elsewhere.”

The $29 million project commenced last week and will be finished in time for the opening of the law school – the first public college of law in North Texas – in August 2014.

Rosemary Haggett, vice chancellor for academic affairs and student success, said the renovations will improve the condition of the building for current UNT-Dallas students and will accommodate the expansion of the law school.

Floors one to four will be refurbished with new classrooms and conference rooms. Floor five will be the dean and staff’s office. Floor six will include the law library, and UNT System offices will move to the seventh floor. Additional shelves for the law library will be on the eighth floor.

In addition, the building will also have additional academic and administration spaces, a general teaching area, lobbies, a student support office, new heating and air conditioning, updated utilities, and extensions on the elevator and escalator, Jackson said.

And the cement wall facing Main Street will finally have windows from floors four to eight.

The UNT System currently only uses the first four floors: dean and staff offices on the first two and classrooms on the third and fourth. It also rents out classrooms to Texas A&M University-Commerce and the University of Texas at Arlington, as well as apartments to full-time students.

TAMU-C and UTA’s building contract expires in 2014, Jackson said. He hopes the universities will extend their contracts because of the below-market values.

“For our system, there’s value being active in large cities such as Dallas and Fort Worth,” Jackson said. “It’ll expand our presence in the [Dallas-Fort Worth area] and share more programs between UNT Denton and UNT Health Science Center [in Fort Worth].”

Jackson said the $29 million for the renovations came from the operating budget of the UNT System, the budget of the new law school, and rental income from TAMU-C, UTA, and the apartment-leasing units. The project didn’t receive any facility appropriations from the government.

Building security guard Margaret Peterson, who has been working there for four and a half years, said the renovations usually start as early as 7 a.m. and end as early as 5 p.m. so that construction doesn’t get in the way of students.

She added that despite current construction on the elevator, students haven’t had trouble navigating around the building.

“Most importantly, we are finally putting up windows,” Peterson said.

The UNT Dallas College of Law will begin accepting students in fall 2013.