(HOUSTON) – Hines, a global real estate investment, development, and property manager, in partnership with 2ML Real Estate Interests and Harrison Street, today announced a lease at Levit Green, the new 53-acre mixed-use life science district adjacent to the Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas. Sino Biological, Inc., an international reagent supplier and service provider, has leased approximately 10,000 square feet of commercial lab and office space in Levit Green’s first phase, which is slated for completion at the end of this year.
“Levit Green was meticulously designed to provide best-in-class life science space that can accommodate a multitude of uses. Welcoming Sino Biological is a testament to the market need for sophisticated, flexible space that allows diversified firms to perform a variety of research,” said John Mooz, senior managing director. “Sino is an excellent addition to the district’s growing life science ecosystem, and we look forward to supporting their continued growth and success.”
Headquartered in Beijing, China with subsidiaries in Suzhou, China; Taizhou, China; Frankfurt, Germany; and Wayne, Pennsylvania and listed on the Shenzhen stock exchange subsidiary ChiNext (SZSE: 301047), Sino Biological is the world’s leading provider of mammalian cell-based recombinant proteins, antibodies and related contract research services. This new site serves as the company’s first US-based manufacturing facility. Referred to as the Center for Bioprocessing (C4B), the facility will focus on both product manufacture and the implementation of contract research services. Levit Green will further establish its presence in Houston, providing companies, academics, and medical researchers in the world-renowned Texas Medical Center and across the region invaluable access to Sino Biological’s comprehensive offering of bioreagents and CRO services.
“We are extremely excited about our new partnership with the Hines team and our forthcoming laboratories and production facilities at Levit Green. Hines is at the forefront of next-generation laboratory space design and development, and our new site at the Levit Green master-planned district in the heart of Houston’s Texas Medical Center will enable Sino Biological to considerably expand its research services and bioreagent manufacture capabilities into the United States,” stated Dr. Rob Burgess, Chief Business Officer for Sino Biological.
To meet the market’s need for immediate lab-ready space, Hines is also delivering two commercial lab and office turn-key suites, at 11,000 square feet and 7,000 square feet, which will be ready for occupancy by summer 2023. This in-demand laboratory offering will give potential tenants the flexibility to accommodate constantly evolving science needs. The turn-key suites have been designed to an optimal 60%-40% lab-to-office ratio, to accommodate any wet or dry lab R&D use, such as biology, chemistry, and engineering.
“Purpose-built lab space takes significant time and effort to design, develop and deliver. In a market with limited supply, sophisticated, move-in-ready turn-key suites will provide a desirable and much needed product in Houston’s growing life science cluster,” said Mooz.
Building I at Levit Green—a 290,000-square-foot, five-story building with wet lab and incubator space—is part of the broader nine-building Levit Green masterplan, which will offer a curated mix of research facilities, office, retail, residential, and outdoor amenities. It is equipped with 100% redundant emergency power, enhanced structural vibration attenuation, augmented mechanical systems, 33-foot structural bay depths, and floorplates of more than 60,000 square feet. Additionally, the building will feature best-in-class amenities that include a 5,800-square-foot fitness center and outdoor garden, a 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 with top-tier, strategically located laboratory and office space.
Building I is slated for completion in late 2022, with Sino Biological’s occupancy anticipated for the third quarter of 2023. JLL represented Levit Green in the lease.
For more information visit www.LevitGreen.com.
About Hines
Hines is a global real estate investment, development, and property manager. The firm was founded by Gerald D. Hines in 1957 and now operates in 28 countries. We manage a $92.3B¹ portfolio of high-performing assets across residential, logistics, retail, office, and mixed-use strategies. Our local teams serve 634 properties totaling over 225 million square feet globally. We are committed to a net zero carbon target by 2040 without buying offsets. To learn more about Hines, visit www.hines.com and follow @Hines on social media.
¹Includes both the global Hines organization as well as RIA AUM as of June 30, 2022.
About 2ML Real Estate Interests
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. Harrison Street 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 San Francisco, London, Toronto, and Washington DC the firm has more than 200-employees and approximately $46 billion in assets under management. Clients of the firm include a global institutional investor base domiciled in North America, Europe, Middle East, Asia, and Latin America. Harrison Street was awarded Best Places to Work by Pensions & Investments for seven consecutive years (2014-2020) and was recognized by PERE as the 2021 Alternatives Investor of the Year, North America and 2020 Global Alternatives Investor of the Year.
Visit https://harrisonst.com/ for more information.
About Sino Biological
Sino Biological is an international reagent supplier and service provider. The company specializes in recombinant protein production and antibody development. All of Sino Biological's products are independently developed and produced, including recombinant proteins, antibodies and cDNA clones. Sino Biological is the researchers' one-stop technical services shop for the advanced technology platforms they need to make advancements. In addition, Sino Biological offers pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology firms pre-clinical production technology services for hundreds of monoclonal antibody drug candidates.
Visit https://www.sinobiological.com/ for more information.
