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.
