Bush Presidential Center a coup for SMU

DALLAS – The George W. Bush Presidential Center at Southern Methodist University officially opens to the public May 1, 2013. The 226,000-sf complex was built at a cost of $250 million.

Community leaders say the facility will have a positive economic impact on the region, attracting up to an estimated 300,000 visitors a year to the SMU campus and raising the profile of Dallas around the world.

The center includes a library, museum and policy institute.

Construction on the center has had a positive economic impact on North Texas. The main contractor, Manhattan Construction, employed more than 60 subcontractors for the job from the groundbreaking in November 2010 to completion in November 2012. At the height of construction, there were 650 workers on the job.