(HOUSTON) – Hines, the international real estate firm, and Harrison Street, a leading investment management firm exclusively focused on alternative real assets, in partnership with 2ML Real Estate Interests, have broken ground on the first building at Levit Green, a new mixed-use life science district made up of more than 53 acres of prime real estate adjacent to the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas.
The 270,000-square-foot building is the first development for the broader nine-building Levit Green masterplan that will offer a curated mix of research facilities, office, retail, residential, and outdoor amenities. The five-story building will also include wet lab and incubator space. Levit Green Building I will deliver in Q4 2022 with initial occupancy in December 2022.
“Breaking ground at Levit Green marks a pivotal moment for Houston as a burgeoning life science cluster. Our carefully built team of national life science leasing, design and capital experts has put a tremendous amount of thought and effort into Building I’s planning and design. We are confident that our team will deliver one of the highest-quality commercial laboratory assets in the world,” said John Mooz, senior managing director at Hines. “We are excited to begin the first of several top-tier projects at Levit Green that are important to the life sciences sector.”
“Houston has an established ecosystem of world-renowned research and academic institutions, top-tier hospital systems, robust public health organizations, and leading medical schools, yet lacks high-quality purpose-built lab and research facilities,” said Mark Burkemper, senior managing director and head of North American transactions at Harrison Street, which owns over 6.5 million square feet of lab space in nine markets throughout the U.S. and U.K. “We are excited to partner with Hines and 2ML to deliver a best-in-class life sciences facility to support critical research and innovation in Houston.”
In addition to a competitive business environment at a favorable cost and the largest medical center in the world, Houston is also advantaged in the speed at which it can deliver new developments, thus allowing for highly predictive tenant occupancy at Levit Green in just over a year’s time.
As the former home of The Grocers Supply Co., Inc., the land on which Levit Green is being developed has a long history of being an crucial place for commerce within the city.
“The Levit family is excited to launch the next phase of this project on land that has been a part of Houston and our family’s history for decades,” said Max Levit, President of 2ML Real Estate and the youngest son of the founder, Joe Levit.
Building I at Levit Green is leased by a tri-coastal team of JLL agency representatives and constructed by DE Harvey Builders.
Building I is equipped with 100% redundant emergency power, enhanced structural vibration attenuation, augmented mechanical systems, 33-foot structural bay depths, and floorplates in excess of 56,000 square feet. Additionally, the building will feature best-in-class amenities that include a 5,800-square foot fitness center and outdoor garden, 7,000-square-foot conference center, 3,500 square feet of café and restaurant space and ample on-site parking. The ground floor plan is also programmed to accommodate more than 25,000 square feet of lab incubator space which will provide entrepreneurs and early-stage life science companies top-tier, strategically located laboratory and office space.
For more information visit www.LevitGreen.com.
About Hines
Hines is a privately owned global real estate investment firm founded in 1957 with a presence in 255 cities in 27 countries. Hines oversees investment assets under management totaling approximately $83.6 billionÂą. In addition, Hines provides third-party property-level services to more than 367 properties totaling 138.3 million square feet. Historically, Hines has developed, redeveloped or acquired approximately 1,486 properties, totaling over 492 million square feet. The firm currently has more than 171 developments underway around the world. With extensive experience in investments across the risk spectrum and all property types, and a foundational commitment to ESG, Hines is one of the largest and most-respected real estate organizations in the world. Visit www.hines.com for more information. ÂąIncludes both the global Hines organization as well as RIA AUM as of June 30, 2021.
About 2ML Real Estate Interests (“formerly” The Grocers Supply Co., Inc.)
The Grocers Supply Co., Inc was founded in 1923 by Joe Levit. Joe’s sons grew the company to be the largest independently owned wholesaler of grocery products in the southeast United States and the largest supplier of Hispanic grocery products in the United States. The company entered the retail business by acquiring both Gerland’s Inc. and Fiesta Mart Inc., two locally owned independent supermarket chains. In December 2014, the company sold its wholesale business and the name “Grocers Supply.” The next year, the company sold Gerland’s and Fiesta. Pursuant to sale of the wholesale business and name, The Grocers Supply Co., Inc. changed its name to 2ML Real Estate Interests, Inc. 2ML has a portfolio of over 5,200,000 square feet comprising of warehouses, shopping centers, freestanding supermarkets and office buildings. Visit 2mlrealestate.com for more information.
About Harrison Street
Harrison Street is one of the leading investment management firms exclusively focused on alternative real assets. Since inception in 2005, the firm has created a series of differentiated investment solutions focused on demographic-driven, needs-based assets. The firm has invested across senior housing, student housing, healthcare delivery, life sciences and storage real estate as well as social and utility infrastructure. Headquartered in Chicago with offices in London and Toronto, the firm has more than 195-employees and approximately $36 billion in assets under management and is owned by its senior leadership team in partnership with Colliers International Group Inc, one of the top global players in commercial real estate, creating long-term stability and strong alignment with investors. Clients of the firm include a global institutional investor base domiciled in North America, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Latin America. Harrison Street has been awarded Best Places to Work by Pensions & Investments for the last seven consecutive years and was named 2020 Global Alternatives Investor of the Year by PERE. For more information, please visit www.harrisonst.com.
