The UT System Board of Regents unanimously approved a motion Wednesday selecting a New York firm as the master planner for the redevelopment of the 345-acre, UT-owned Brackenridge Tract.

The regents interviewed two architecture and design firms to redesign the tract, which includes a 141-acre golf course, more than 500 graduate student apartments and an 88-acre biological field lab. In December, the board voted to select an outside firm to design the property located near the banks of Lady Bird Lake and west of Mopac Boulevard.

Thirteen firms submitted proposals in response to a request posted by the UT System. These firms were eventually narrowed down to two master planners: Cooper, Robertson & Partners LLP from New York, and Johnson Fain Inc. from California. Both firms discussed their qualifications and preliminary plans during the regents meeting.

The board's motion requested that the New York firm submit its proposal and budget for creating a minimum of two conceptual master plans for the tract's development. A contract has not been signed between the company and board members, but the motion

requests that Florence Mayne, the UT System's executive director of real estate, negotiate a contract by April 9.

Cooper, Robertson & Partners LLP has worked on projects at Harvard, Johns Hopkins and Yale universities.

"One thing Harvard discovered was it's easier to get good faculty when you have opportunity outside of the classroom. The Brackenridge Tract has opportunity," said David McGregor, the firm's project director.

The firm has not begun the design process, but regents request designs be made within 12 months of the day the contract is signed. Members of the firm said it will gather data needed for design work and communicate with the tract's numerous stakeholders.

Stakeholders 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.

"[Communication] is really the foundation of all of our work," said Paul Milana, the firm's partner-in-charge. "There are lots of complexities we need to deal with."

McGregor said the firm's "first line of defense" will be its local consultants, a group of representatives from eight Austin firms, who can provide an Austin point of view to the out-of-state master planning company. He also said he will dedicate 60 percent of his time to the project.

"You've got to address the fears people will have about change," McGregor said. "This will come through managing the process and the communication process."

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