Program offerings at The Ion, Houston's "innovation hub" under construction in Midtown, have started to take shape as the facility nears its anticipated 2021 opening.
The Ion, which is being developed by Rice Mangement Co. in a former Sears building at 4201 Main St., will feature a diverse range of incubators and accelerator programs focused on a host of industries. The Ion recently received a $1.5 million grant from the Economic Development Administration to fund accelerators for smart city technology, clean energy tech and minority- and women-led startups. In October, The Ion nabbed $1.4 million in federal funding to create an Aerospace Innovation Hub in partnership with NASA's Johnson Space Center and DivInc, an Austin-based organization aimed at fostering diversity and inclusion in the tech ecosystem.
Jan Odegard, who took over as interim executive director of The Ion in June, said the Covid-19 pandemic has forced the innovation hub's programming into a virtual setting for the time being. But he sees a blend of virtual and in-person program offerings as a positive for The Ion.
"This opens up new doors and opportunities to engage and reach even further into the community as we build the ecosystem," Odegard told the Houston Business Journal.
Construction on the roughly 300,000-square-foot innovation hub is continuing on time and on budget, said Ryan LeVasseur, managing director of direct real estate for Rice Management Co. The Ion expects to receive its temporary certificate of occupancy in the first quarter of 2021, at which point tenants will be able to come in to build out their spaces.
A date for a grand opening at The Ion is still a moving target amid the coronavirus pandemic, LeVasseur said. Opening safely is a priority for the innovation hub.
"We're looking to other buildings — we're not the only building opening in the Covid era," LeVasseur said. "We're thinking about it, perhaps, being a multiphased approach in how we celebrate the opening of this building."
Rice Management Co. has broader visions for the area surrounding The Ion in Midtown. The Ion will serve as the anchor for what will be a 16-acre district composed of more than a dozen buildings. Over the next decade, Rice Management Co. will develop more than 3 million square feet of mixed-use space in the district, LeVasseur said.
"What our vision is for this district is to create a real estate product that is different from the status quo in Houston in a way that ties into the existing city grid, is open and permeable to the surrounding areas and prioritizes pedestrian activity over automobile access," LeVasseur said.
Rice Mangement Co. plans to engage with development partners on the next phase of building next year.
In November, Rice Management Co. announced partnerships with Houston-based Transwestern and Dallas-based Common Desk for The Ion. Transwestern will serve as property manager for the entirety of The Ion, while Common Desk will operate 58,000 square feet of flexible office space on The Ion’s second floor.
Other entities have tech and innovation in mind for the area surrounding The Ion. Somerville, Massachusetts-based Greentown Labs, touted as North America's largest climatech incubator, will open its Houston location in the spring at 4200 San Jacinto St. That's the site of the former Fiesta grocery store, which closed in July amid declining sales and increasing competition around the Midtown area.
“We see Houston as the city in America where we could have the most immediate impact,” Greentown CEO Emily Reichert told the HBJ recently. “Houston is the energy capital of the world, but it needs to be the energy transition capital of the world if we’re going to have any hope of addressing climate change on the time scale that is required.”
