Thanks to a $50 million gift from the Buc-ee’s CEO, Arch Aplin, Texas A&M is moving ahead on a $250 million learning laboratory on campus. The three-story, 211,724-square-foot space is expected to be a hub for hospitality, retail, and food and nutrition sciences and a welcome center for visitors.

DLR Group and Pickard Chilton are the architects on the project, and Manhattan Construction is the general contractor.

The Aplin Center is slated to start construction in October and debut in 2028.

Once opened, the Aplin Center will feature teaching labs and real-world venues for viticulture and enology, fermentation, coffee roasting, product development, sensory evaluation, meat and food science, retail and hospitality operations.
 
In addition, the hub will include a new Visitor Center — with a 170-seat theater, 70-seat multipurpose room, ambassador support spaces and staff offices, along with a restaurant and cafe and a VR 360 sensory classroom.

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