UNT’s New Frisco Campus to Preserve Natural, Green Spaces for Learning and Play

Nearly half of the University of North Texas' new Frisco campus will be devoted to green spaces and will include an outdoor learning lab as well as hike-and-bike trails. On Thursday, UNT officials gave the system's regents a first look at the master plan for the new campus, which is expected to be up and running by the 2023 winter semester. The first phase of the campus will include a central academic building and learning spaces along the site's wetlands, which officials expect will be used by students in the Frisco school district as well. The site will eventually include multiple buildings, a conference center, an amphitheater, an event quad, bell tower and a pedestrian bridge that will connect to nearby student housing that will be developed. Plans go before Frisco city officials for approval next month with the board of regents expected to give their official nod to the plan in August. Bob Brown, UNT's senior vice president for finance and administration, said officials want to preserve about 45 percent of the site for green spaces. "We're right next to a park system that Frisco is building, and we didn't see the need to use those spaces. ... We can link our trails down to that park so that bicycles and walkers and whatnot can take advantage of that," Brown said. The school will sit high atop a ridge line -- near the intersection of Preston Road and Panther Creek Parkway -- on 100 acres of land donated to UNT by the city.   Continue reading...