HOUSTON | Development Thread II

[TexasPlaya]

Perhaps coincidentally....

Bisnow: Houston’s Life Sciences Industry Needs Spec Space

Houston’s healthcare industry has acted as a steady, lucrative and mostly recession-proof offset to the city’s volatile oil and gas sector. But when it comes to the life sciences, growth has been surprisingly slow. The biggest hurdle for life sciences in Houston today isn’t venture capital funding or corporate interest. It is the lack of suitable office and laboratory space, experts said at a Bisnow webinar Thursday.

Life science companies often can’t use typical medical office product because they require specialized spaces that have heavier infrastructure for electrical systems, larger floor plates, lab benches, certain floor-to-ceiling heights, and advanced air filtration. Ideally, scientists and researchers also would have little distance between the lab and office space, to make it easy to carry out their work. There has been very limited speculative development of products aimed at life sciences in Houston, largely because of its specialized nature.

In addition, the needs of a life sciences company can shift rapidly and dramatically, depending on its success. Justin Brasell, executive vice president of Transwestern’s Healthcare Advisory Services Group, said that when a life sciences company acquires funding, it swings into action immediately, and doesn’t necessarily have time to wait for a space to be built. “When these folks get funding, they can't wait two years to get a building built-to-suit or something that's more tailored to their needs,” Brasell said. “They get funding, and they're on a clock. This money is expensive, they've got to go, they're got to start clinical trials. They have to hire people, they've got to recruit. So they're really focused on that."

There is already about 7M SF of life sciences-focused research and development space in Houston. That’s without The Ion and TMC3 projects, which promise to boost that footprint significantly in the next decade. Both are being built within the 610 Loop and are expected to attract small and large private sector tenants.

Read more at: https://www.bisnow.com/houston/news/...medium=Browser

[TexasPlaya]

Bump

Originally Posted by Urbannizer

Hines and 2ML Real Estate Interests to Build Levit Green

Originally Posted by TexasPlaya

^^^
Really exciting news. If there's some silverlining to Covid is that it may spur more life science investment that Houston can capture. Here's an aerial of the Levit Green site from CrockPotandGravel on HAIF:

[TexasPlaya]

Some cool aerials of a potential multifamily south of the TMC by HighRise Tower on HAIF:





South of the TMC represents a good area for potential redevelopment, especially along 288 and 610.

[TexasPlaya]

Some more public/private partnerships, ION. You have TAMU/UT investing in the med center, Rice investing in ION collaborative incubator in midtown, and TMC3 hoping to garner more private investment.

Updates from Brooklyn173 and ChannelTwoNews HAIF on ION:

[Glass Facade]

I spoke to the consultant that represents the developer (Interfin) they have placed the Granduca on hold.

[JoninATX]

Google and Amazon set to open new locations in Houston

June 18th 2020

HOUSTON, Texas -- Within the same week, two tech giants have announced plans to enter or expand in Houston. Amazon has began building out a robotic distribution center in Fort Bend County, and Google will open its first office in Houston that's focused on cloud technology sales.

Dallas-based real estate developer Trammell Crow Company has begun construction on Amazon's ecommerce fulfillment center in Richmond, located on 93.5 acres at 10507 Harlem Rd. The 850,000-square-foot facility will open in 2021.

https://abc13.com/google-and-amazon-...bs-in/6254325/

[tmbdevelopmenttx]

A very huge project!

[llamaorama]

Levit Green is nuts. Seeing these megaprojects unfold and seeing TMC mentioned in the same sentences as Boston and San Francisco when it comes to life sciences tech makes me optimistic. Even if it isn't exactly like the rendering this is still a huge deal.

It makes me wonder if Houston's entering a new epoch where the South/Southeastern quadrant of the metro area will start to grow more rapidly and the NW quadrant is going to cool down. Not that Pearland isn't a booming area, but its still not nearly as populous as other suburbs. But this could make it explode with growth IMO, especially now that the 288 toll lanes project is almost done. If you went back to the 1950s and 1960s that was where the new development was, some of the first suburbs in Houston were areas like South Park, Gulfgate was the first mall, etc. Then for some reason the metro tilted north and west.

For the past 15 years the ridiculous growth in Katy, Cypress, Klein, seems to have been helped along by the oil industry. Tons of jobs in high rise office towers in the Energy Corridor and The Woodlands plus all the new manufacturing and small engineering/tech firms in low rise industrial areas along Beltway 8. But now they are saying we could be looking at 100,000-200,000 people losing their jobs due to depressed oil prices even if the COVID economic recovery turns out to be "V" shaped. That's got to be bad news for anyone trying to sell those $400k McMansions out on the prairie by the Grand Parkway.

If the TMC becomes the core of a "new" economy in Houston based on things that aren't just oil(the oil industry will recover and have at least one good cycle and not fade away overnight, obviously) its definitely going to rearrange what sides of the city are more or less desirable for new growth. Definitely look out for even more gentrification happening in Sunnyside and the Third Ward, too.

[JoninATX]

Originally Posted by llamaorama

Levit Green is nuts. Seeing these megaprojects unfold and seeing TMC mentioned in the same sentences as Boston and San Francisco when it comes to life sciences tech makes me optimistic. Even if it isn't exactly like the rendering this is still a huge deal.

It makes me wonder if Houston's entering a new epoch where the South/Southeastern quadrant of the metro area will start to grow more rapidly and the NW quadrant is going to cool down. Not that Pearland isn't a booming area, but its still not nearly as populous as other suburbs. But this could make it explode with growth IMO, especially now that the 288 toll lanes project is almost done. If you went back to the 1950s and 1960s that was where the new development was, some of the first suburbs in Houston were areas like South Park, Gulfgate was the first mall, etc. Then for some reason the metro tilted north and west.

For the past 15 years the ridiculous growth in Katy, Cypress, Klein, seems to have been helped along by the oil industry. Tons of jobs in high rise office towers in the Energy Corridor and The Woodlands plus all the new manufacturing and small engineering/tech firms in low rise industrial areas along Beltway 8. But now they are saying we could be looking at 100,000-200,000 people losing their jobs due to depressed oil prices even if the COVID economic recovery turns out to be "V" shaped. That's got to be bad news for anyone trying to sell those $400k McMansions out on the prairie by the Grand Parkway.

If the TMC becomes the core of a "new" economy in Houston based on things that aren't just oil(the oil industry will recover and have at least one good cycle and not fade away overnight, obviously) its definitely going to rearrange what sides of the city are more or less desirable for new growth. Definitely look out for even more gentrification happening in Sunnyside and the Third Ward, too.

Then again they're predicting oil prices to skyrocket. Guess we'll have to wait and see.

[JoninATX]

Regent Square Update







Picture credit by Highrise Tower on https://www.houstonarchitecture.com/...e/25/#comments

[JoninATX]

Texas A&M Innovation Plaza




By Hindesky

[Twitter1]

One of my favorite photos of the week.

New hotel in the TMC at Almeda & Holcombe.

[llamaorama]

Almeda between MacGregor up to Peggy's Park and 59 is one of those forgotten major streets in Houston that has a lot of things on it. I took a drive down it the other day since I was bored and cruising around in a car is one thing I guess we can still do with COVID going on.

[The Best Forumer]

Originally Posted by JoninATX

Texas A&M Innovation Plaza




By Hindesky

So what is the purpose of this building? Is this the place where TAM students come to innovate?

[The Best Forumer]

Originally Posted by Twitter1

One of my favorite photos of the week.

New hotel in the TMC at Almeda & Holcombe.

For how long will it sit empty?

[Dariusb]

I've heard about Houston's density inside of 610 but is that density spreading outside of that area or will soon?

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Dariusb

I've heard about Houston's density inside of 610 but is that density spreading outside of that area or will soon?

Not in any meaningful way. Houston’s densest parts of town are not within 610.

[TexasPlaya]

Originally Posted by Dariusb

I've heard about Houston's density inside of 610 but is that density spreading outside of that area or will soon?

As Cory said, its really the reverse as half of "inside of the loop" (610) is heavy industry and extreme poverty. Although, that means a lot of potential for redevelopment like in south, near east and northeast Houston.

Uptown/Galleria is probably the geographic density center of Houston.

[llamaorama]

In terms of people per square mile in census counts, the densest neighborhoods are outside of the 610 loop and within or around Beltway 8. These are concentrations of apartment complexes built in the 1970s and 1980s which became low income housing and are populated by immigrants living in crowded conditions.

However in terms of the number of apartment units and buildings per acre, which is a more visible form of urban density, then probably the western half of inside the loop is denser.

[Dariusb]

Ok cool. Thanks for the clarification guys.