World leaders in biomanufacturing setting up shop in The Woodlands over the past 12 months are burnishing the community’s growing reputation as an emerging life sciences hub.
The Woodlands accounted for 60% of the Houston region’s life sciences leases of 10K SF or more last year, according to CBRE’s 2023 U.S. Life Sciences Outlook report released last week. And developers of the master-planned community and national researchers alike say it’s all upside from here for the growing cluster.
“It’s clear from the companies they’ve attracted that they developed a nice niche for life sciences,” said Matt Gardner, leader of CBRE’s Americas life sciences advisory group. “And in particular, they’ve attracted some of the world’s leaders in biomanufacturing.”
Having a strategic location for transporting product to and from patients and access to scientific talent helped Cellipont, a cell therapy contract development and manufacturing organization, pick The Woodlands as the site for the facility, Cellipont President and CEO Deborah Wild said in a statement to Bisnow.
“We also found that The Woodlands is an appealing area because of the schools, activities, and restaurants, and that it would be easier to draw new employees there than other places we considered,” Wild said.
Quality of life, affordability, and safety and security are helping draw life sciences business to the city once better known for its energy-related companies, said David O’Reilly, CEO of The Woodlands’ developer The Howard Hughes Corporation.
“We have the unique ability as the master plan developer, different from a lot of other folks that pitch relocations, because we’re not just building the office building,” he said. “I’m partnering with those CEOs to help find them a great place to work, and to help them and their employees find great places to live … to find their houses of worship, to find the places where they’re going to shop, dine, enjoy art, all those things that people do when they relocate from one city to another.”
To read the full Bisnow article, written by Maddy McCarty, CLICK HERE.