Major construction work has officially begun at the University of Texas at Austin, including the demolition of a major building.
The university’s new $425 million undergraduate facility, Miriam and James J. Mulva Hall, will help create what the university calls the “Business District,” and about 25 percent of the school’s students are expected to attend classes in the new building.
Demolition of the Dobie Garage at Whitis Avenue and 20th Street in Austin is set to begin this week to make way for a 17-story building that will be the tallest on the UT campus.
Designed by Perkins & Will’s Dallas studio, the tower will span 373,000 square feet and feature 29 classrooms, including a 200-seat auditorium and three technologically advanced specialized teaching labs. Classrooms will seat an average of 65 people.
As part of this effort, undergraduate classrooms and faculty offices at the McCombs School of Business will be relocated from 21st Avenue and Speedway to the Graduate and Executive Education building at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Guadalupe Street.
The open space and plaza will connect Malva Hall to Robert B. Loring Hall in McCombs and the AT&T Hotel and Conference Center.
The central tower will house the dean’s office, academic departments, research centers and faculty offices.
Malva Hall, which will be the first academic building along University Avenue, will offer views of the state capital, UT Tower and the campus’s original 40-acre site.
Pending approval from the UT System Board of Regents, the university plans to break ground later this year, with the building scheduled to open in August 2028.
Miriam and Jim Marva, who transferred to the University of Texas where they earned their bachelor’s and MBA degrees, donated $40 million to begin the project in 2014. Funding for the new building was approved by the board of trustees in 2023.
The building project is expected to be the largest philanthropic project in the university’s history, with 35 percent of the project being funded by donor contributions.
$50 million will come from the McCombs Reserve, another $225 million will come from the University of Texas and $125 million will come from donors.
