The Texas State University System Field Research Station in Terlingua, TX

The Texas State University System Field Research Station in Terlingua is a 10,000-square-foot new construction project valued at $8,200,000. Located on Bare Bones Road in Brewster County, the facility includes classrooms, laboratories, bedrooms, and community support spaces. The project was registered with TDLR in January 2025, with construction starting in the same month. The filing listed a completion date of December 2025, but the final inspection was not passed until March 2026. TDLR closed the project file in August 2026, marking the end of the accessibility review process.

Project Scope and Cost Context

The estimated cost of $8,200,000 translates to $820 per square foot. This figure is above the county median of $120 per square foot for new construction projects in Brewster County. The scheduled build window of 322 days is close to the county median of 298 days. The project cost is in the top quarter of the 34 TDLR-registered new construction filings in the county. The Texas State University System is the owner of record, and William T Winning is the registered accessibility specialist.

Regional and Market Context

Terlingua is a small community in Brewster County with a population of about 614, according to U.S. Census estimates for ZIP code 79852. The median household income in the area is $30,917, and the median owner-occupied home value is $117,300. Housing in the ZIP code is mostly renter-occupied. The Brewster County unemployment rate was 3.2 percent in August 2026, lower than a year earlier. The Texas State University System has one other TDLR-registered project, the Mafrige Field House in Huntsville, which is also closed.

A LinkedIn post mentioned the progression and success of the new Field Research Station, noting the view of the Christmas Mountains. The project is privately funded and located on private land for private use. The registration and plan review were completed in January 2025. The final inspection passed in March 2026, and the TDLR file was closed in August 2026. The project is complete according to the accessibility review process, though the record does not specify if the business is open to the public.