Houston's Levit Green Life Sciences campus, a stone's throw from the prestigious Texas Medical Center, is reshaping the image of scientific research spaces, offering a 296,000-square-foot building that boasts not just cutting-edge labs but also a fusion of commercial and lifestyle amenities unlike the typical windowless laboratories of old. The newly opened Levit Green, developed by Hines, 2ML Real Estate Interests, and Harrison Street, encompasses a whopping 53 acres, integrating biomanufacturing facilities with plush office spaces, a man-made lake, and a boardwalk complete with lounge chairs and a fire pit.
According to a Houston Chronicle report, Levit Green's modern-day lab oasis reflects a commitment to enhancing the work environment for scientists, replacing the stale, claustrophobic settings with natural light flooding in through vast windows, robust fitness facilities, and food services provided by Nitecap Hospitality. John Mooz, senior managing director at Hines, highlighted that "they are very unlike other lab spaces" when referring to the upmarket ambience of the development; in his tours of other markets, he found it "shocking" how the norm was for scientists to be cooped up in basements or without windows. This insight clearly underpins the genesis of Levit Green's innovative design.
While the life science real estate sector has been met with some challenges in the wake of dried-up capital markets and the Silicon Valley Bank's March collapse, Mooz believes that Houston's competitive capital costs and lower rental rates could be attractive to potential tenants. The campus, which promises an impressive 4 million square feet of leasable space upon completion, welcomed its first tenant this fall, Sino Biological, a Chinese biotechnology firm occupying a 10,000-square-foot custom-designed lab.
However, despite the setbacks, Hines is pushing forward with Phase Two, a seven-story building dedicated to biomanufacturing, though the full bloom of Levit Green might not come swiftly as the timeline wavers with leasing activities cooling, a sentiment echoed in a BizJournals article, stating that “Venture capital dropped down and that’s had a definite impact", and while Levit Green has no other tenants officially signed on, a handful of letters of intent are in place—a signal that the business still brews potential.
With amenities such as 30,000 square feet of turn-key lab suites and an independent 25,000-square-foot incubator, Levit Green aims to nurture the growth of life sciences and biotech startups. It's part of a greater vision to establish Houston as a prominent hub in the life sciences realm, with spaces like TMC's Helix Park and Alexandria Real Estate’s campus in The Woodlands also entering the arena. Chris Wadley, managing director at JLL, insists the sector "is poised for substantial growth" and the optimism is tangible, hoping that next year Houston will indeed surge ahead in this burgeoning field, according to the Houston Chronicle.
