Texas A&M Regents have approved building plans for the Aplin Center at Texas A&M University in College Station— a three-story, 211,724-square-foot home for experiential learning in hospitality, retail, and food & nutrition sciences that also will serve as a new front door for the campus.
The university says the Aplin Center will feature teaching labs and real-world venues for viticulture & enology, fermentation, coffee roasting, product development, sensory evaluation, meat & food science, retail and hospitality operations.
A new Visitor Center will have a 170-seat theater, 70-seat multipurpose room, ambassador support spaces and staff offices.
Construction is to start in September, and substantial completion is slated for February 2028.
The regents' approval appropriated $225 million for construction and other costs related to the Aplin Center; $25 million was previously appropriated.
The center is being named for Arch “Beaver” Aplin III, the founder of the Buc-ee's convenience store chain who gave the university a $50 million gift in 2022.
The Eagle reports that the architects for the Aplin Center are Pickard Chilton and DLR Group, and the landscape architect is Design Workshop. The project manager is Hines.
