HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) – Griffin Partners, a Houston-based real estate firm led by Fred Griffin, will develop a new building at the Houston Spaceport for Hamilton Sundstrand, a subsidiary of Collins Aerospace.
The 115,000-square-foot facility, located on the south quadrant of Ellington Airport, will include 50,000 square feet of corporate office space. An additional 10,000 square feet will be dedicated to a spaceflight accelerator designed to foster collaboration among startup entrepreneurs, university teams and industry businesses engaged in space ventures.
Creating 250 Jobs
The Hamilton Sundstrand/Collins Aerospace facility is expected to bring approximately 250 jobs to the region. Project completion is slated for summer 2022 as Houston Spaceport continues to gain momentum and attract aerospace investment.
Another aerospace firm, Axiom Space, recently announced plans to develop a 14-acre headquarters campus at the Houston Spaceport, further strengthening the area’s aerospace cluster.
“We look forward to working closely with the Houston Spaceport team to deliver a premier facility for Space City,” said Fred Griffin, Founder and Chairman of Griffin Partners.
The Genesis of Clear Lake City
Griffin brings deep experience in southeast Houston and the Clear Lake area surrounding NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Early in his career he worked with Friendswood Development, the former Exxon subsidiary that developed the 10,000-acre Clear Lake City master-planned community adjacent to NASA’s Mission Control campus.
“Throughout our 40 years as a business, we’ve witnessed the significance of space and air travel to Houstonians, and we are honored to have been selected to deliver our professional expertise to Hamilton,” Griffin said.
Griffin Partners will lead the planning, design, contracting and construction of the Hamilton Sundstrand/Collins Aerospace facility. Powers Brown Architecture will serve as the project architect, and Harvey Builders is the general contractor.
The new building will be located within the 400-acre Houston Spaceport at Ellington Airport, on Houston’s southeast side near Space Center Boulevard.
First-Ever Incubator for Spaceflight Ventures
The facility will host Houston’s first dedicated incubator supporting spaceflight ventures. A 10,000-square-foot incubator area will provide space for startups, university initiatives and established companies to collaborate on critical space technology challenges, including robotics, biomedical solutions for spaceflight, and additive manufacturing. As Houston remains a leading region for aerospace, the Houston Spaceport will create opportunities for the community to convene, share resources and accelerate innovation.
With Hamilton Sundstrand as an anchor tenant, Collins Aerospace will be eligible for up to $25.6 million in financing from the Houston Airport System for capital improvements. Collins Aerospace already operates another Houston facility focused on systems for human spaceflight missions for NASA.
“For 45 years, the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership (BAHEP) has worked closely with Houston’s aerospace community to support this important industry cluster,” said BAHEP President Bob Mitchell. “The work Collins Aerospace has brought to Houston for nearly 40 years has provided valuable aerospace career opportunities for our residents.”
Fred Griffin serves on the boards of the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership and Space Center Houston. Space Center Houston is an on-site science museum that highlights Houston’s historic role in spaceflight, astronaut training and Mission Control.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said: “We are leveraging Houston’s many advantages, including our dynamic workforce, to fuel the future of aerospace—a potentially trillion-dollar, 21st-century commercial space economy.”
June 4, 2021 Realty News Report Copyright 2021
For more about Texas real estate, see the book Houston 2020: America’s Boom Town – An Extreme Close Up by Ralph Bivins.
File: Space City News Bulletin. Collins Aerospace, Houston Spaceport
Rendering: Courtesy of Collins Aerospace and Griffin Partners.