HOUSTON | Development Thread II

[N90]

The bioport is very significant for Houston. It’s an economic game changer for the city.

[JoninATX]

Houston about to give Austin a run for it money with all this new job creation.

[N90]

I’m still gonna call it TMC3 instead of TMC Helix Park, the name resonated with me plus it’s shorter. So easier to write when you’re busy.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by N90

Good that place has such a grotesque suburban design in what should be Houston’s most urban and walkable neighborhood.

With all the office space getting built at ION, I always assumed they would relocate and the old site would be redeveloped.

[DCReid]

Originally Posted by N90

The bioport is very significant for Houston. It’s an economic game changer for the city.

Is that the land of the former Six Flags; if not, has that land been developed?

[N90]

Originally Posted by DCReid

Is that the land of the former Six Flags; if not, has that land been developed?

No, this is a little bit southwest of the Astroworld site. Parts of the Astrosworld site have been developed into homes but the Astroworld site was never really big enough for this 500 acre TMC BioPort development.

[DCReid]

Originally Posted by N90

The bioport is very significant for Houston. It’s an economic game changer for the city.

I read a few years ago that Houston lost out to NC Research Triangle for an Amgen facility and College Station lost out to NC for a vaccine manufacturing facility...

[JManc]

Originally Posted by N90

The bioport is very significant for Houston. It’s an economic game changer for the city.

This is the ace in the hole Houston needs to transition away from oil and gas (which is a sunsetting industry) and remain relevant for the foreseeable future.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by N90

No, this is a little bit southwest of the Astroworld site. Parts of the Astrosworld site have been developed into homes but the Astroworld site was never really big enough for this 500 acre TMC BioPort development.

I'm assuming here along Buffa Speedway/ Holmes.

The University of Texas bought and almost developed a new campus just north at Willowbend and Buffalo Speedway. It since sold the land.

[DCReid]

Originally Posted by JManc

I'm assuming here along Buffa Speedway/ Holmes.

The University of Texas bought and almost developed a new campus just north at Willowbend and Buffalo Speedway. It since sold the land.

They should have let UT develop a campus, but I read UH complained about new competition. Amgen cited availability of bio talent in choosing NC, and other companies will look for talent in addition to land, cost, taxes, incentives. I read the state even offered $100 million in incentives to Amgen and they still did not take it.

[Green Country]

Originally Posted by JManc

I'm assuming here along Buffa Speedway/ Holmes.

The University of Texas bought and almost developed a new campus just north at Willowbend and Buffalo Speedway. It since sold the land.

I think UT still owns that land...

[N90]

Originally Posted by DCReid

They should have let UT develop a campus, but I read UH complained about new competition. Amgen cited availability of bio talent in choosing NC, and other companies will look for talent in addition to land, cost, taxes, incentives. I read the state even offered $100 million in incentives to Amgen and they still did not take it.

I mean Amgen was looking at 15 markets across the US and then narrowed it down to just Houston and Holly Springs, N.C. They didn’t pick N.C. because Houston lacks a biotech talent pipeline, Houston is an extremely large biotech cluster. The largest in the south along with Raleigh. I’m sure there were other competing markets with larger biotech clusters than Houston or N.C. that were passed over.

“NCBiotech also provided $100,000 in funding support to local entities to help North Carolina land the project over an initial 15 competing markets and metro areas that the company ultimately narrowed to a contest between Holly Springs and Houston.”

https://www.ncbiotech.org/news/amgen...-holly-springs

Whatever incentives and deals N.C. offered were the determining factor in why they were picked along with N.C. being more aggressive in their recruitment.

“But the North Carolina incentives proved critical, as records show “the company has stated that an award at this level is critical to North Carolina’s consideration as the project location.”

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...ver-texas.html

As it is, this isn’t a big deal to me. You’re talking about a small manufacturing facility that’ll employ a few hundred people. Now if you were talking about an R&D facility or tens of thousands of jobs for a manufacturing facility then I’d care for it.

To add context, this TMC BioPort development is more than 200x larger in scope both by manufacturing capacity and employment than that Amgen facility and neither HOU nor TX have to dole out incentives for it. This TMC BioPort will add 100,000 permanent jobs to Houston on 500 acres of soon to be developed land, every and all jobs created in the process will be in the biotech industry.

TMC3, which is a massive R&D facility currently under construction will add 20,000-30,000 permanent jobs in 5 million square feet of mostly lab space. TMC3 + TMC BioPort are a combined 120,000-130,000 permanent jobs being created.

[N90]

Missing out on the UT campus was a big blunder for Houston because it was self-inflicted. UH became threatened by UT entering the Houston metro with a school and did everything in their power to prevent it from coming true and ultimately succeeded.

As if Houston and Texas have the luxury of passing up on a new school in a fast growing city and state that needs more educational institutions.

[Wattleigh]

TMC Helix Park

c/o Highrise Tower on HAIF

The TMC now has a commercial website! It focuses on showing off their 4 campuses. The new website features a 4-minute video of a TMC3 animation that we've never seen before. I'll post a bunch of new renderings from the video.

The aggressive facades are just beautiful. A dream!! Really amazing stuff here.

https://texasmedicalcenter.com/

Helix Park Video: https://vimeo.com/750444025

[Bailey]

Originally Posted by N90

Missing out on the UT campus was a big blunder for Houston because it was self-inflicted. UH became threatened by UT entering the Houston metro with a school and did everything in their power to prevent it from coming true and ultimately succeeded.

As if Houston and Texas have the luxury of passing up on a new school in a fast growing city and state that needs more educational institutions.

Do you have any idea how public universities are funded in the state of Texas?

Texas basically ONLY funds two school systems (UT and TAMU) and the rest either fund themselves or have to go to Austin and beg for funding on an as-needed basis.

This type of protected funding is called the Permanent University Fund, and it is written into the Texas Constitution.

That pot of $17.5 BILLION ONLY goes to those two systems...not UH, not TT, or the dozens of other state schools outside of the UT or TAMU systems.

Read more about it here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permanent_University_Fund

The University of Houston has been grossly underfunded for their whole life by the state and, despite that, have created a Tier One research Public University. So....justifiably so, they are going to push back on a state, and a UT system, that is NOT an ally and is a threat to the school they built themselves.

Furthermore, if you go back and watch the congressional hearings over this specific project, you will find out that the University of Texas broke a number of laws in acquiring the land and revealing the campus. UH merely had to point out the rules that were broken or ignored. It was a slam dunk case for UH.

There is a reason why Texas A& M isn't proposing a Texas A&M-Austin (which is more of a need in fast growing Austin than a new campus in Houston BTW) or Texas proposing a University of Texas-college Station miles away from the main campuses in both cities. It's a crappy thing to do to other state systems WITHOUIT taking the proper channels to do so. UT planned this all on their own..and were called out for it.

UH's stance to the state of Texas is to HELP US, an already 100 year old State School, become another prestigious public school in a top metro, another UCLA, INSTEAD of using those resources create yet another a mediocre start-up campus a few miles away.

The fact is that states like California produce way more AAU public Universities than the state of Texas.

In my opinion, the state of Texas should focus on helping the University of Houston and then Texas Tech improve to be in contention for that coveted AAU status.

[Urbannizer]

Houston rises to No. 3 in U.S. for most downtown apartment growth

https://houston.culturemap.com/news/...artments-most/

new study suggests downtown Houston has evolved into a magnet for apartment dwellers.

From 2013 to 2022, downtown Houston has added 15,607 apartments, according to a new study from StorageCafe. That puts Houston in third place among 100 major U.S. cities for the most growth in downtown apartment supplies. Atlanta ranks first (21,508), with Los Angeles at No. 2 (19,432).
During the 10-year period covered by the study, Houston’s inventory of downtown apartments rose 63 percent.

“While office workers aren’t yet returning in droves, people still seem interested in living in downtown Houston, which has another 2,700 new apartments currently under construction with completion dates spanning approximately two years,” according to StorageCafe.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by N90

Missing out on the UT campus was a big blunder for Houston because it was self-inflicted. UH became threatened by UT entering the Houston metro with a school and did everything in their power to prevent it from coming true and ultimately succeeded.

As if Houston and Texas have the luxury of passing up on a new school in a fast growing city and state that needs more educational institutions.

The problem is that the UT System really had no concrete plans for that land. They were angling for some type of research campus, not a stand alone campus; e.g. The University of Texas at Houston which what UH was pushing back hard on as well as increasing their footprint in the area. UT having no idea what they were doing backed out. Plus, they already have UTHealth, MD Anderson and UTMB nearby.

I went to UH for all three of my degrees so I was with them in this debate. Go Coogs!

[TexasPlaya]

Originally Posted by JManc

The problem is that the UT System really had no concrete plans for that land. They were angling for some type of research campus, not a stand alone campus; e.g. The University of Texas at Houston which what UH was pushing back hard on as well as increasing their footprint in the area. UT having no idea what they were doing backed out. Plus, they already have UTHealth, MD Anderson and UTMB nearby.

I went to UH for all three of my degrees so I was with them in this debate. Go Coogs!

This. It was only going to be a "data science center" after the fact.

[AviationGuy]

Originally Posted by JManc

I'm assuming here along Buffa Speedway/ Holmes.

The University of Texas bought and almost developed a new campus just north at Willowbend and Buffalo Speedway. It since sold the land.

I didn't know that Willowbend had been extended over to Buffalo Spdwy. I grew up a few blocks from Willowbend, but it was well west of the railroad tracks and closer to Post Oak.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by AviationGuy

I didn't know that Willowbend had been extended over to Buffalo Spdwy. I grew up a few blocks from Willowbend, but it was well west of the railroad tracks and closer to Post Oak.

I was at a friend's house a couple of weeks ago on Waycross a bloc or so away. Not too familiar with that area other than property values are going way up.