Ion District In Midtown

[IronTiger]

Private and public officials are closing in on a deal to develop the main campus of Houston's innovation district at 4201 Main St. — the site of the former Sears location in Midtown, sources close to the deal told to the Houston Business Journal. Rice University owns the land and will be involved in the innovation district's development, sources said.

 

Sears Holdings Corp. (Nasdaq: SHLD) had a storefront at 4201 Main St. for 73 years before closing in January 2018. Rice Management bought out the remaining 28 years of Sears’ 99-year ground lease and acquired another 3 acres from Sears. The former Sears store property sits on 6 acres of land, and the parcel contains an additional 3.4 acres of land for development.

Wait, so the Sears had a ground lease that it only would've had for 100 years? Who owned it? I thought Sears had all that land, and leased some space to Fiesta. Huh. A while back we had discussions if Rice owned the land or not. I guess they really DID all along.

[Nate99]

Innovation is a great thing. I'd be interested to see the track record of enterprises established expressly to innovate without particular specificity outside of an academic setting. I suppose Rice is in a good spot to help this along as I see this as the role of research universities, but who identifies which people/projects/research get a cut of whatever resources are dedicated to and managed by a quasi-public "innovation district"?

[H-Town Man]

Unless they are reusing the existing building, I don't see why you would locate this on such a prime piece of land.

 

[cspwal]

The point is to locate it on a prime piece of land to attract people to it

[j_cuevas713]

 

20 hours ago, Mr.Clean19 said:

I worry about Houston's ability to Innovate. We are very good with production and profit making enterprises. Taking ideas from other locations and making them profitable. 

 

People will point to O&G innovation but a lot of that is driven from Licensors located in Chicago, Germany, Italy and other overseas locations. I dont know enough about medical to say if this is really the location for innovation or if there are other places in the country that do more. We should never stop encouraging innovation but I dont think a high priced innovation coordinator is the answer. The more natural progression that is happening on the East End seems like the better option. 

A managed district is almost necessary if you want to reach a certain level of potential. Houston has so much talent but nowhere to officially put it. This city has focused so much on production and profit making for so long, that's why it's not easy to see this city becoming an innovative city. That's why we need an area dedicated to innovation. Houston can't become what we want it to become until it decides to take that next step as a city. 

[Naviguessor]

Exactly cspawl.  Easily accessible to Public Trans.  If Some form of the University Line ever opens up, then it will be the most well connect place in the city, and directly accessible to almost all Major Colleges and Universities.  Not to mention easily accessible to nightlife and entertainment options as well has a myriad of new housing options.  These features will see to the demographic that the city is looking to entice and lure.  The perfect spot. 

[H-Town Man]

1 hour ago, cspwal said:

The point is to locate it on a prime piece of land to attract people to it

 

Would an innovation center located, say, on the next block between Fannin and San Jacinto be less attractive than one located between Main and Fannin? Are people looking to get their start-up off the ground going to snub their nose if this is a block off Main?

 

Main St. is an emerging high-rise/GFR corridor. Unless they are reusing the existing building for the innovation center, I would think they would put it on one of the other blocks where land is worth half as much. Then hold the block fronting Main for 5 years or so until the market is ready for a high-rise there.

 

Edited April 5, 2018 by H-Town Man

[H-Town Man]

Now that I think about it, this is most likely an interim use. In 10 years when the freeway is sunk and the homeless can't live under it anymore, the land will be worth more than gold. Until then, let the innovation district occupy the existing building.

 

[Triton]

Reading these comments makes me realize people don't quite understand what this project is. As I said earlier, I go to a lot of these innovative incubators in Houston.... most of these are full of startups working on cutting edge technology. These aren't just some random software engineers looking for grants or looking for some ideas.... these are actual entities with a goal in mind and are actively looking for investors to fund their ideas. Houston certainly does have an innovative spirit especially since UofH is pumping out a lot of good software developers... Not sure what natural progression on the East Side meant from a comment earlier but a lot of these startups are having to use home offices to create the next big thing. Instead they can go to places like The Station Houston, RED Labs, The Cannon (Absolutely MASSIVE), etc.... this tech wave is still in its infancy but I think a district like this can really make Houston the next hot spot for tech startups. A lot of those places I mentioned earlier are swamped already so to have an entire district to start this up would be amazing.

 

Next, this isn't just for startups. Apple, Microsoft, Oracle, and many many other established tech companies send in their own people to work these incubators... to present their own thoughts, to push these ideas to reality where they may even buy them and allow these people to work remotely from Houston.. I mean, the list just goes on and on with the list of possibilities.

 

 

I'm telling you, these places are really exciting if anyone has ever been to one. If Houston can get this, along with the medical research campus and keep expanding our aerospace industry, I think Houston has a very bright future no matter what happens to the oil industry. 

[Nate99]

1 hour ago, Triton said:

Reading these comments makes me realize people don't quite understand what this project is. As I said earlier, I go to a lot of these innovative incubators in Houston.... most of these are full of startups working on cutting edge technology. These aren't just some random software engineers looking for grants or looking for some ideas.... these are actual entities with a goal in mind and are actively looking for investors to fund their ideas. Houston certainly does have an innovative spirit especially since UofH is pumping out a lot of good software developers... Not sure what natural progression on the East Side meant from a comment earlier but a lot of these startups are having to use home offices to create the next big thing. Instead they can go to places like The Station Houston, RED Labs, The Cannon (Absolutely MASSIVE), etc.... this tech wave is still in its infancy but I think a district like this can really make Houston the next hot spot for tech startups. A lot of those places I mentioned earlier are swamped already so to have an entire district to start this up would be amazing.

 

Next, this isn't just for startups. Apple, Microsoft, Oracle, and many many other established tech companies send in their own people to work these incubators... to present their own thoughts, to push these ideas to reality where they may even buy them and allow these people to work remotely from Houston.. I mean, the list just goes on and on with the list of possibilities.

 

 

I'm telling you, these places are really exciting if anyone has ever been to one. If Houston can get this, along with the medical research campus and keep expanding our aerospace industry, I think Houston has a very bright future no matter what happens to the oil industry. 

 

It does sound interesting,  I do still wonder who gets to choose who benefits from the subsidized real estate that they couldn't otherwise afford. 

 

Or perhaps I'm misreading it and its more of a co-op situation where they all share the costs, but no one else has made such an arrangement (or at least not enough)commercially viable privately. In any case, there still needs to be a gatekeeper. 

[dbigtex56]

Thanks for the clarification, Triton.
How many square feet of office space would be needed to make this operation viable? Obviously new structures would need  to be built. 
I'm still hoping consideration is given to adapting the existing Sear's building;. 

[H-Town Man]

9 minutes ago, dbigtex56 said:

Thanks for the clarification, Triton.
How many square feet of office space would be needed to make this operation viable? Obviously new structures would need  to be built. 
I'm still hoping consideration is given to adapting the existing Sear's building;. 

 

Considering that they looked at the 5,370 SF former Surge Ventures building on West Gray before choosing this site, it is not entirely clear that they plan on building new structures. Building new space costs much more than adapting existing space, with a much higher tax burden to go along.

 

[Triton]

54 minutes ago, Nate99 said:

 

Or perhaps I'm misreading it and its more of a co-op situation where they all share the costs, but no one else has made such an arrangement (or at least not enough)commercially viable privately. In any case, there still needs to be a gatekeeper. 

 

It's a mixture of both really. Some startups pay for their own rooms, especially when they are further along and they need to keep their discussions more private. Others just find a chair and start coding... But you still pay in the cost. There's nothing subsidized... these are just to get projects off the ground until they're viable enough to get their own office space. We are talking like maybe 2 or 3 people starting a project, something that is pretty common in the software development field. These places provide a more professional space especially for investors to come in... as opposed to working on the projects at their homes.

 

For example at the Station Houston, I know there's a startup developing facial recognition technology that checks users into venues without the need for RFID or iBeacon technology. So they've developed the product and they're currently marketing their project to major event companies and if it catches on, then they'll grow their staff and buy their own office space.

 

Again, this is an incubator. Some of the projects will be successes and some will be failures. Either way, these incubators provide the space that these startups require.

[kdog08]

The location of this is perfect..... it's connected to public transportation and to our best universities/research (Rice, TMC, UH) not to mention UHD and HCC. Also, I think putting this close to where our cultural centers are, between the Museum District/Herman Park and downtown's performing arts and hotels, is very shrewd. Fingers crossed, some form of the University Line gets built which would only increase the connectedness. 

Edited April 5, 2018 by kdog08

[Twinsanity02]

It certainly going to enhance Main St  which is already getting quite an enhancement. Especially a dilapidated area. This is certainly good.

 

What I do not understand is how do areas like the TMC play any role in this?  Beside patient care , Biomedical research is a large focus at the Med Center not software research. I understand the brain and creativity concentration in the area with downtown, Med Center, Museums, Rice University and on and on I just don't understand how they connect. 

[j_cuevas713]

3 hours ago, Twinsanity02 said:

It certainly going to enhance Main St  which is already getting quite an enhancement. Especially a dilapidated area. This is certainly good.

 

What I do not understand is how do areas like the TMC play any role in this?  Beside patient care , Biomedical research is a large focus at the Med Center not software research. I understand the brain and creativity concentration in the area with downtown, Med Center, Museums, Rice University and on and on I just don't understand how they connect. 

It's basically just about establishing diversified tech in the industries Houston is strong in. As well as creating a culture for creatives, which this city desperately needs. One strong example is the overwhelming support the Houston Outlaws (our eSports team) received by many young tech savvy Houstonians. Many of which have wanted to explore other cities such as LA or NY because their interests are there. If we can keep even a fraction of those people here in Houston, to help our city grow and develop, then we're in for some great change. You have to cover all bases of tech in order to keep talent here in Houston.

Edited April 6, 2018 by j_cuevas713

[Angostura]

13 hours ago, kdog08 said:

The location of this is perfect..... it's connected to public transportation and to our best universities/research (Rice, TMC, UH) not to mention UHD and HCC. Also, I think putting this close to where our cultural centers are, between the Museum District/Herman Park and downtown's performing arts and hotels, is very shrewd. Fingers crossed, some form of the University Line gets built which would only increase the connectedness. 

 

 

It's a good opportunity to extend the area exempt from parking minimums all the way to 59.

[Ross]

On 4/5/2018 at 8:58 PM, Twinsanity02 said:

It certainly going to enhance Main St  which is already getting quite an enhancement. Especially a dilapidated area. This is certainly good.

 

What I do not understand is how do areas like the TMC play any role in this?  Beside patient care , Biomedical research is a large focus at the Med Center not software research. I understand the brain and creativity concentration in the area with downtown, Med Center, Museums, Rice University and on and on I just don't understand how they connect. 

Some research projects require a ton of software development for simulations, data gathering, etc. Having more developers available is a benefit to research.

[Houston19514]

On 4/5/2018 at 8:58 PM, Twinsanity02 said:

It certainly going to enhance Main St  which is already getting quite an enhancement. Especially a dilapidated area. This is certainly good.

 

What I do not understand is how do areas like the TMC play any role in this?  Beside patient care , Biomedical research is a large focus at the Med Center not software research. I understand the brain and creativity concentration in the area with downtown, Med Center, Museums, Rice University and on and on I just don't understand how they connect. 

 

I don't think there is any reason at all to think this is targeted solely at software innovation.

[UtterlyUrban]

5 hours ago, Houston19514 said:

 

I don't think there is any reason at all to think this is targeted solely at software innovation.

 Would think that software innovation may be ancillary to the bulk of the work.  I would think that much of the work will be focused on traditional energy and sustainable energy as well as medical and health.  I further suspect (and hope) that there be robust outliers to this “core”.  But, if someone really wanted to found the “next big thing” in software, they will head to the Valley,

[dbigtex56]

On ‎4‎/‎5‎/‎2018 at 2:40 PM, H-Town Man said:

 

Considering that they looked at the 5,370 SF former Surge Ventures building on West Gray before choosing this site, it is not entirely clear that they plan on building new structures. Building new space costs much more than adapting existing space, with a much higher tax burden to go along.

 

As a "district", I assume that the area will contain considerably more than 5,370 SF of space.
I hope the existing Sears building can be adapted into office space and included in any master plan.

 

[wilcal]

Press conference happening about the innovation district tomorrow morning.

 

"...to create the innovation district, which will be anchored by a facility on the former Sears property"

 

That sounds like RIP Sears building to me. But, then they talk about giving media tours of the old building which makes me thing they are keeping it.

 

Guess we'll find out tomorrow!

[htownproud]

No doubt young innovators will be drawn to a windowless 1940's building. . . . .

[j_cuevas713]

1 hour ago, wilcal said:

Press conference happening about the innovation district tomorrow morning.

 

"...to create the innovation district, which will be anchored by a facility on the former Sears property"

 

That sounds like RIP Sears building to me. But, then they talk about giving media tours of the old building which makes me thing they are keeping it.

 

Guess we'll find out tomorrow!

 

http://www.khou.com/article/news/local/midtown-sears-building-transforming-to-new-tech-hub/285-537101002

The Sears isn't going anywhere

[j_cuevas713]

5 minutes ago, htownproud said:

No doubt young innovators will be drawn to a windowless 1940's building. . . . .

The structure isn't windowless. It's just the cladding on top. 

[wilcal]

That's great news!

[AnTonY]

4 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said:

The structure isn't windowless. It's just the cladding on top. 

 

Yep, there's an art deco construct hidden behind the facade:

[wilcal]

Stream happening now of press conference, but audio not working for me

 

https://www.pscp.tv/w/1RDGldmzzBDGL

[ArtNsf]

14 hours ago, AnTonY said:

 

Yep, there's an art deco construct hidden behind the facade:

What a great looking building in it's day !  Maybe they can somewhat restore a bit of the good looking art deco parts and incorporate it into an updated facade ?

[wilcal]

Just now, ArtNsf said:

What a great looking building in it's day !  Maybe they can somewhat restore a bit of the good looking art deco parts and incorporate it into an updated facade ?

 

Evidently a significant portion of the facade is still there, just covered up.