[Wattleigh]

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...e-tenants.html

NASA’s Exploration Park is fully leased, but commercial spaceflight tenants are still welcome

By Jishnu Nair - Reporter
March 06, 2024, 04:58pm CST

Just after a Houston-built spacecraft landed on the moon, NASA completed one big leap for the agency by fully leasing a new development for commercial space.

However, the newest tenant plans to lease out its facilities to companies looking for room to develop technology while staying close to NASA’s Houston operations.

Exploration Park is currently 240 acres of undeveloped land, but between Texas A&M University’s $200 million Space Institute and the American Center of Manufacturing and Innovation’s new Space Systems Campus, NASA expects to see considerable growth in Houston’s commercial space economy.

The development is located outside of the Johnson Space Center’s controlled-access area, which JSC Director Vanessa Wyche said was a big selling point for interested tenants. The agency issued a request for proposals for the space in June 2023, according to documents the Houston Business Journal viewed.

“We were looking for someone that’s going to be able to reach out to other government agencies, academia and entrepreneurs,” Wyche said during a March 6 press conference at the Bay Area of Houston Economic Partnership.

Although the Exploration Park space is fully leased, NASA does have facilities at the JSC that periodically open for companies to lease, albeit within a controlled entry area, Wyche added.