TMC Helix Park: Texas Medical Center Bio Research Campus

[Houston19514]

On 9/17/2023 at 12:30 PM, steve1363 said:

Right, I said SINCE April 2022.  So in basically a year and a half the Chronicle has published nothing.

Yeah, and that article talked about as much about the other cities as it did about Houston.  Interesting that the Chron article says the four cities are working together. The recent DMN article makes it sound like it's Houston vs AUS/DAL/SAT

[hindesky]

[Highrise Tower]

Lots of progress this week!

Collaborative Building:

Parcel E progress:

Dynamic Two:

Site details:

Parcel A progress:

Helix Park, section 4:

Dynamic One:

Parking facility:

[hbg.50]

Unbelievable…awarded to Dallas….  
 

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/health-care/2023/09/26/dallas-lands-coveted-federal-biotech-research-hub-after-months-of-campaigning/

[CREguy13]

Total shock. Sick to my stomach that our leaders couldn't get this done. I really don't understand how Dallas makes more sense than Houston given all of our strengths and advantages in this area.  Total failure of leadership from the TMC, city, etc.

 

"Houston originally submitted an independent application but later joined the Dallas-led coalition, said Matt Crommett, who helped lead the statewide effort."

Edited September 26, 2023 by CREguy13

[hbg.50]

I’m sick.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/article/arpah-dallas-houston-texas-18382717.php

Quote

Houston originally submitted an independent application but later joined the Dallas-led coalition, said Matt Crommett, who helped lead the statewide effort.

 

Edited September 26, 2023 by steve1363

[stuckINdallas]

WOW

[LosFeliz]

Ouch. That's gonna sting. 

[Amlaham]

Sorry, I'm not surprised AT ALL. DFW has been doing an amazing job landing corporate relocations, amusement parks, and now this. I just feel like nothing has been aligning for a city.....for the last decade or so. 

[Fortune]

Not surprised at all. Houston never lands these types of things. 

[hbg.50]

5 hours ago, CREguy13 said:

Total shock. Sick to my stomach that our leaders couldn't get this done. I really don't understand how Dallas makes more sense than Houston given all of our strengths and advantages in this area.  Total failure of leadership from the TMC, city, etc.

 

"Houston originally submitted an independent application but later joined the Dallas-led coalition, said Matt Crommett, who helped lead the statewide effort."

I was waiting to see if the local news stations would report on this and I didn’t hear a peep about it.  Something tells me Dallas knew Houston was not a serious contender.  Thus all the positive coverage in the DMN.  This blurb stands out:

Quote

A Houston consortium led by the Texas Medical Center also vied for the customer experience hub. Both the Dallas and Houston coalitions were selected to host site visits for the ARPA-H team, after which the Houston bid was eliminated, Luce said.

“It was disappointing. We wish they had not decided to. We wanted from the beginning for it to be a Texas bid, but Houston decided they were better off to go by themselves,” Luce said. “But, we certainly welcome them back. They have a lot to offer.”

Lyda Hill Philanthropies played a significant role not only in forming the Dallas, Austin and San Antonio bid, but in establishing North Texas as an incubator for biotech research.

and this one…

Quote

North Texas politicos also got in on the application action, with several lawmakers across the ideological spectrum penning a letter inviting Wegrzyn and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to visit Pegasus Park for themselves.

The Texas bid that ultimately won was a statewide effort that required coordination from groups including the Dallas Regional Chamber and the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. Luce said he and his team had a list of more than 600 people involved with the application to call following Tuesday’s announcement.

It’s noteworthy that Austin and San Antonio sided with Dallas.  Somehow Houston comes off as not being a team player.

Will this become a defining moment in Houston’s history?  Right now it feels like a huge opportunity LOST.

[monarch]

^^^ surprised?  really?  maybe, just maybe, some of you will now take the time to STOP... LOOK... and LISTEN.  no matter what on earth our fair city of houston can accomplish through innovation... creativity... start-up... advancement... and overall success... we are still considered nationally to be a BLUE COLLAR city in lieu of DALLAS, AUSTIN, SAN ANTONIO.  no matter what, we just cannot seem to break this long-standing decades and centuries-old very precarious image.  heck, we cannot even decide what to do with our very antiquated, and falling apart aging astrodome.  should the astrodome be located in DALLAS vs. AUSTIN, you had better rest assured that something would have been done about it by now.  

basically, everyone, the world over... always in some form or fashion seems to be heralding the fact that the CITY of HOUSTON harbors the WORLD'S LARGEST MEDICAL CENTER.  (basically, everyone who harbors the means, comes to us for some form of specialty treatment or whatever)  yet, we just lost out to DALLAS once again for one of our nation's most innovative and lucrative federal biotech research hubs.  WHAT THE HELL?  HOUSTON NEEDED THIS!  HOW ON EARTH DOES THIS EVEN HAPPEN?  therefore, am i really surprised... NOPE!  i have been reiterating over and over again, that something is really wrong here.  something is just not right here.  actually, it goes to show us just what the US FEDERAL GOVERNMENT really thinks of houston.  presenting dallas with this very lucrative research victory is a complete testament to this fact.

one can only just imagine the current mindset of our city and medical center officials in regard to this shocking/stunning loss.  what on earth is the use of constructing such large centers of medical and research innovation, if we cannot land federal government contracts to assist with this mission?  the brand spanking new HELIX PARK complex is spending literally billions of dollars on this magnificent project, yet, we are already losing out to dallas with their very lesser-known PEGASUS PARK complex.  THIS IS AN INSULT TO OUR FAIR CITY and they should be aware of this.  dallas is probably licking their high dollar chops at this point.  (what a stunning victory for them)

however, all, that i can truly and factually state at this very important point is... I AM NOT SURPRISED...  

 

Edited September 27, 2023 by monarch

[Amlaham]

Some good news, TMC partnership with the Netherlands. The Netherlands joins Ireland, the UK, Australia, and Denmark in partnership with the TMC. Maybe this is more important than how the US sees us? Globally, I think the TMC is doing a good job. 

https://houston.culturemap.com/news/innovation/medical-center-builds-bridges-for-global-impact-with-new-netherlands-partnership/

https://www.tmc.edu/tmc-biobridge/

[Twinsanity02]

I think Monarch's "How on Earth Does This Even Happen" needs to be seriously studied.  DFW has landed many economic plums in the last few years. Many more than Houston. This latest bit of news is humiliating considering the tens of thousands of biomedical professions in our city. I have my scapegoats; poor flood planning, bad media from previous tropical cyclones, and of course everyone's favorite, bungling politicians. In truth the answer is likely more complex. This hopefully will be a wake up call.

Edited September 27, 2023 by Twinsanity02
spelling

[hbg.50]

13 minutes ago, Twinsanity02 said:

I think Monarch's "How on Earth Does This Even Happen" needs to be seriously studied.  DFW has landed many economic plums in the last few years. Many more than Houston. This latest bit of news is humiliating considering the tens of thousands of biomedical professions in our city. I have my scapegoats; poor flood planning, bad media from previous tropical cyclones, and of course everyone's favorite, bungling politicians. In truth the answer is likely more complex. This hopefully will be a wake up call.

It's not that complicated and has nothing to do with Houston being blue-collar or flooding.  Dallas simply knows how to play the game.  They had a very coordinated and well-funded campaign to land this bid which has been in the making for over a year.  Just look at the politicians that Dallas had lobbying on it's behalf.  Who is Houston's representative in Washington?  Not to mention the State of Texas has been boosting Dallas for the last several years, enabling them to win corporate HQ locations and now the ARPA-H hub.  Surely the Houston contingent was banking on the reputation of the Texas Medical Center and thought it was a no-brainer for Houston to be selected.  Meanwhile, Dallas gathered support from Austin, San Antonio, and other Texas lawmakers, and they hobnobbed with the right people in Washington.  I blame Sylvester Turner, Lina Hidalgo, the Greater Houston Partnership, and the TMC for letting this happen.  They should all be embarrassed as they were asleep at the wheel.  Obviously, they did not take this bid seriously and put forth their best effort.  Look at the committee led by Chris Canetti that brought the World Cup 2026 to Houston.  That didn't just happen.  Those guys worked their tails off to ensure Houston was one of the selected sites.  I only wish Chris and his team had been in charge of the ARPA-H hub.  I don't know if Houston can still recover from this.  Dallas is crowing that they will be the next biomedical hub along with Boston and the Bay Area.  I think that remains to be seen.  Perhaps many of us overestimated the importance of winning this bid.  The WSJ didn't even report on the selection.  This wasn't national news like the Amazon HQ selection was.  It does hurt though...

[LosFeliz]

I googled last night to see if I could find local support up in DC. Fletcher (D) and Crenshaw (R) were working together to push Houston as a biotech hub. Not much else from anyone from our delegation and absolutely nothing from Ted Cruz. I guess he was busy podcasting. 

[jmitch94]

No surprise at all. Dallas is way more attractive to national and international audiences than Houston even though the cities are extremely similar. Dallas some how doesn't have a lot of the same bad stereotypes that Houston does even though Dallas is just as hot, humid and ugly.

The state government also seems to be more friendly to Dallas compared to their open hostility toward Houston. 

[monarch]

7 hours ago, steve1363 said:

It's not that complicated and has nothing to do with Houston being blue-collar or flooding.  Dallas simply knows how to play the game.  They had a very coordinated and well-funded campaign to land this bid which has been in the making for over a year.  Just look at the politicians that Dallas had lobbying on it's behalf.  Who is Houston's representative in Washington?  Not to mention the State of Texas has been boosting Dallas for the last several years, enabling them to win corporate HQ locations and now the ARPA-H hub.  Surely the Houston contingent was banking on the reputation of the Texas Medical Center and thought it was a no-brainer for Houston to be selected.  Meanwhile, Dallas gathered support from Austin, San Antonio, and other Texas lawmakers, and they hobnobbed with the right people in Washington.  I blame Sylvester Turner, Lina Hidalgo, the Greater Houston Partnership, and the TMC for letting this happen.  They should all be embarrassed as they were asleep at the wheel.  Obviously, they did not take this bid seriously and put forth their best effort.  Look at the committee led by Chris Canetti that brought the World Cup 2026 to Houston.  That didn't just happen.  Those guys worked their tails off to ensure Houston was one of the selected sites.  I only wish Chris and his team had been in charge of the ARPA-H hub.  I don't know if Houston can still recover from this.  Dallas is crowing that they will be the next biomedical hub along with Boston and the Bay Area.  I think that remains to be seen.  Perhaps many of us overestimated the importance of winning this bid.  The WSJ didn't even report on the selection.  This wasn't national news like the Amazon HQ selection was.  It does hurt though...

^^^ i would like to start off by presenting your heavily (conservative) biased narrative with the BLACK question mark that it so deserves.

since you would like to lay blame upon the mayor of our fair city of houston, let us REALLY speak about the man himself... THE HONORABLE SYLVESTER TURNER.  this very compassionate and astute two-term mayor has been a mayor for ALL OF HOUSTON.  have you really paid any attention to all of the work that this mayor has been dutifully involved with just this past year or so?  he has traveled the world over lobbying and trying to network with sister cities toward the continued advancement of houston.  the city of houston's public HOUSING progress has become a model for the nation.  (have you not paid any attention to all of the nation's mayors venturing forth to houston this past year to learn about how innovative and successful we are in regard to public housing?)  the city of houston is very often branded as a DEMOCRATIC stronghold.  however, MAYOR TURNER (democrat) was extremely instrumental through hard work, lobbying, and networking to help houston land the 2028 NATIONAL REPUBLICAN PARTY CONVENTION. (oh, and did i fail to mention that he's a DEMOCRAT?)  

i've noticed just how quickly you paid homage to "chris Canetti" in regard to landing the WORLD CUP 2026 to HOUSTON.  however, have you somehow forgotten all of the hard work that the mayor and his office participated in to help assist in this monumental effort?  MAYOR TURNER along with his staff worked tirelessly to help land this magnificent world sporting event to our fair city.  (after all, landing something of this magnitude always has to start with the MAYOR'S office... right?)

under MAYOR TURNER'S watch, the downtown district is booming.  brand new towers have been constructed and more are on the way.  mayor turner and his office were highly instrumental in helping JOHN WHITMIRE (current houston mayoral candidate)acquire state legislation to help houston participate in receiving approximately ($2billion) in state hotel occupancy tax revenues which will further assist houston in revitalizing the downtown convention district.

actually, i could go on and on and on and on with endless accomplishments regarding the HONORABLE MAYOR TURNER.  this most remarkable person has hereby achieved all of these spectacular achievements all the while fighting cancer throughout his term in office.  he keeps his head held high and is just as self-confident as ever.  this man was born and raised in houston... he dearly loves houston... and there is nothing that he wouldn't dutifully perform on behalf of our fair city.  i am deeply honored and proud of him...

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by monarch

[Moore-to-it]

Wasn't going to get into it, but all this" woe is me' is what really embarrassing about this. Yes it sucks to lose out to Dallas, but that the cookie, as someone said, Dallas simply put more effort into it.  But Houston is far from hurting .. TMC  Helix is still powering along.. and to be honest this could a catalyst for the TMC to push ahead with the rest of it plans like TMC bioport and expansion of the southern portion of the Medical district. The last time Houston lost out on a national  bid it spurred the birth of the innovation district , didn't it?)

 

Houston taken some L but also won alot... not getting  the Space force...caused Houston  to double down on it commit to being  a major space hub...( every time I turn around  Space port Houston is growing with some new company or contract or building).

 

Remember when Dallas swore the trinity river project would put Houston bayou  renovation to shame? Yeah They are still a ditch  and we are building whole communities along our bayous now.

Shipping  channels has to stay being upgraded because it keeps growing. 

 

We are Houston  we will be better than fine

[Bassclef]

Whole communities that will be flooded once a good rain hits.

[Moore-to-it]

22 minutes ago, Bassclef said:

Whole communities that will be flooded once a good rain hits.

I'm sure they never considered that while designing them...nope ...not once...no way

 

I mean it not like the first floor of most of these designs begin on like.the 3rd story or anything 

Edited September 30, 2023 by Moore-to-it

[__nevii]

What exactly does "customer experience hub" entail and how important is it? Because that is what the Dallas area got regarding this ARPA-H ordeal.

Meanwhile, the main innovative catalyst/engine already selected Boston (huge life sciences hub, DARPA tech, etc). And the main operations obviously stayed DC given the Federal location.

Edited September 30, 2023 by __nevii

[stuckINdallas]

1 hour ago, Bassclef said:

Whole communities that will be flooded once a good rain hits.

There is a similar comment in the East River thread... it must be hard to comprehend on an architectural forum that new developments have flood control thought out or are in an area that doesn't flood. 

[__nevii]

1 hour ago, Bassclef said:

Whole communities that will be flooded once a good rain hits.

 

1 hour ago, Moore-to-it said:

I'm sure they never considered that while designing them...nope ...not once...no way

 

I mean it not like the first floor of most of these designs begin on like.the 3rd story or anything 

 The "East River" site never even flooded during Harvey, the area is above the flood plain. The site was already previously developed in the form of the "KBR", so all the risks, assessments of that area regarding flooding would already have been dealt with.

[Amlaham]

53 minutes ago, __nevii said:

What exactly does "customer experience hub" entail and how important is it? Because that is what the Dallas area got regarding this ARPA-H ordeal.

Meanwhile, the main innovative catalyst/engine already selected Boston (huge life sciences hub, DARPA tech, etc). And the main operations obviously stayed DC given the Federal location.

I thought the SAME thing! Its practically a customer service center, I'm sure we'll be more than fine! 

Side note about the flooding comment. I'm starting to realize a lot of Houstonians are pessimists, see the absolute worst of every thing Houston 😂 

Edited September 30, 2023 by Amlaham

[hbg.50]

1 hour ago, __nevii said:

What exactly does "customer experience hub" entail and how important is it? Because that is what the Dallas area got regarding this ARPA-H ordeal.

Meanwhile, the main innovative catalyst/engine already selected Boston (huge life sciences hub, DARPA tech, etc). And the main operations obviously stayed DC given the Federal location.

This is how Dallas is positioning it.  Bear in mind that Houston has been wanting to claim a stake to the title of the next big biotech hub along with Boston and the Bay Area.

Quote

Biotech hub win gives Dallas
edge to be the next medical
research hotbed

The project could bring with it new jobs, an influx of talent, federal funds and elevated prestige. It’s a victory Dallas’ biotech and life sciences sector has been clamoring for since Pegasus Park opened in 2021.

Though Dallas has several research universities with programs dedicated to the field like UT Southwestern, the University of Texas at Dallas and the University of North Texas, many companies that have been born in Texas have eventually left to go to more established biotech hubs around the country.
However, ARPA-H and Pegasus Park could bring an end to that and firmly establish Dallas as the next big biotech and life sciences hub in the United States.

Dallas will receive ARPA-H’s customer experience hub, which will focus on three primary things: conducting clinical trials, capturing data and driving user testing.
It’s a big win for Dallas and Texas, said Hubert Zajicek, CEO & co-founder of Health Wildcatters, a life sciences networking and investing consortium.
“This is a fairly bold move to decentralize this system,” he said. “Dallas will have the task to serve all Americans in every state. All the nearby universities will benefit from this, and I think the region will too. Dallas will be the beneficiary of a lot of incoming jobs and businesses.”

It would appear that the Dallas hub cannot be successful without participation from Houston’s TMC so that collaboration will be interesting to observe over the coming months.

Edited September 30, 2023 by steve1363

[hbg.50]

32 minutes ago, Amlaham said:

Side note about the flooding comment. I'm starting to realize a lot of Houstonians are pessimists, see the absolute worst of every thing Houston 😂 

OMG Houstonians are the most self-hating people on the planet!  Thank God for leaders like Jesse H. Jones and Roy Hofheinz that had big dreams!

[BEES?!]

1 hour ago, Amlaham said:

Side note about the flooding comment. I'm starting to realize a lot of Houstonians are pessimists, see the absolute worst of every thing Houston 😂 

I’ve thought this for years, haha 😅

[__nevii]

@monarch @steve1363 @LosFeliz @stuckINdallas @CREguy13 @Amlaham @Fortune @Twinsanity02

Depending on what exactly is taking place with the "customer experience hub" (if it's more patient care, or if there are more specialties regarding the clinical trials), I do find it quite strange to see TMC passed over for this thing despite the healthcare, biotech expertise present in the area — especially considering the activity of MD Anderson, combined with ARPA-H's emphasis on CANCER. 

I truly don't know if there are any dysfunctionalities regarding Houston's leadership. Whether they are slow on the uptake in some form. Either that, or the "customer experience hub" is not necessarily what it's being promoted as, and just simply didn't align with functionalities regarding the TMC. Indeed, when the bids were announced, I thought only a single place was going to get the full experience (i.e. all the HQ, innovation, along with the "customer service") — instead, this evokes more similarity regarding Elon's Tesla "relocation" to Austin only as corporate HQ, even though the main talent stayed in California.

I still think that TMC3, Helix, Levitt Green, etc can help Houston on the biotech front. I don't really care for any "reputation" or "stereotypes" of Houston that might be seen w/ the "establishment — the map is not the territory, and the results are all that matter at the end of the day. The Houston collective can take a page from SF if it means having to invest in local univesities, build out R&D, innovation, homegrown (not to mention connections w/ BioBridge from elsewhere).

Edited September 30, 2023 by __nevii

[__nevii]

@Amlaham @steve1363 @BEES?!

Honestly, all the same "pessimism" and "distate" for Houston used to be exactly how I felt when I was much younger growing up in the area. I used to agree "how undesirable" it was to be the "humid, flat swamp" of Houston.

However, I eventually gained interest regarding plant life and the associated agriculture, biodiversity, cultivation, gardening, and ecology. And suddenly "the humid swamp" became "a teeming collective of enjoyment." In contrast, all the clamoring of "aridity" and "dry heat" that I subscribed to in the past started to ring more and more hollow: especially in dry spells like in this past summer, where post after post on social media was lamenting the lack of rain and heat. Indeed, it was then that I recognized that enjoyed the climatologically rainier climate (data averages) of Houston vs elsewhere in the state: even "comfortable dry heat" like Palm Springs in CAwould still be too persistently dry and dessicated for my ideals.

I digressed a little, but what I was trying to get at is: ad populum is a fallacy for a reason. Much of it is built on the specious and the superficial: lots of nuance regarding true outcomes can be missed when only relying on surface-level glances.

• A great example of what I mean is with recent policy changes taking place across cities in the US and Canada regarding "zoning reforms".  For ages, many publications, including from self-avowed urbanists kept fignerpointing Houston's "tacky lack of zoning with stripmalls next to houses." Many a sensationalist article of Houston Chronicle showcasing the "takiest" things that they could find. Indeed, I've heard numerous times about people in their urbanplanning college courses learning about Houston as "an example of what not to do."
   
• Then, when YouTubers like NotJustBikes speak on the issue regarding the strictness of regulations on mix-use, missing middle, etc, combined with the general issues of affordability, housing costs, now the cities try to make many of the same "deregulating" moves ... that already were legal in Houston to begin with.

If anything, the fingerpointing actually causes more harm than good. It's a form of blindness via sectionalizing an issue to "oh, it's just that place" only for "surpised Pikachu face" to happen when those very same issues manifest on their doorstep. Places like Austin tout how "their environmentally liberal policies kept them from sprawling like Houston and Dallas", ignoring the fact that the sprawl across Texas is facilitated by the highly subsidized road industries from the Federal and State (legislature effects on TXDOT) level. 

Anyway, I digress. Back to TMC.

Edited September 30, 2023 by __nevii