HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) – Griffin Partners, a Houston real estate firm led by Fred Griffin, will develop a building at Houston Spaceport for Hamilton Sundstrand, a subsidiary of Collins Aerospace.
The 115,000-SF facility, located on the south quadrant of the Ellington Airport, will provide 50,000 SF of corporate office space and an additional 10,000 SF will be used as a spaceflight accelerator for collaboration of start-up entrepreneurs and businesses involved in space ventures.
Creating 250 Jobs
The Hamilton Sundstrand/Collins facility is expected to bring 250 jobs to the city. Completion of the project is slated for summer 2022, as Houston Spaceport gains momentum.
Another aerospace firm, Axiom Space recently announced plans to develop a 14-acre headquarters campus at Houston Spaceport.
“We look forward to working closely with the Houston Spaceport group to provide Space City with a premier facility,” said Fred Griffin, Founder and Chairman of Griffin Partners.
The Genesis of Clear Lake City
Griffin has significant experience in southeast Houston around NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Early in his career, Griffin was 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 seen the significance of space and air travel for Houstonians and are honored to have been chosen to provide our professional expertise to Hamilton,” Griffin said.
Griffin Partners will lead the planning, design, contracting and construction process of the Hamilton Sundstrand/Collins facility.
Powers Brown Architecture will design the facility. Harvey Builders is the general contractor.
The new project will be located at the 400-acre Houston Spaceport at Ellington Airport, which is located on the Southeast side of Houston near Space Center Boulevard.
First-Ever Incubator for Spaceflight Ventures
The facility will host Houston’s first-ever incubator supporting spaceflight, with a dedicated 10,000 square-foot area for start-ups and universities to collaborate on solving critical space technology challenges, including robotics, medicine and additive manufacturing. Houston continues to be a leading region for aerospace and the Houston Spaceport will provide opportunities for members of the aerospace community to come together, facilitating collaboration and innovation.
With its Hamilton Sundstrandunit as an anchor tenant of Houston Spaceport, Collins Aerospace will receive up to $25.6 million in financing from the city’s Houston Airports systems for capital improvements. (Collins Aerospace currently has a another facility in Houston that develops and produces systems for NASA’s human-manned space flights.)
“For 45 years now, the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership, BAHEP, has worked very closely with the aerospace community in Houston to help this very important industry cluster continue to be successful,” BAHEP President Bob Mitchell said recently. “The work Collins Aerospace has brought to Houston for nearly 40 years has provided valuable aerospace career opportunities for Houstonians.”
Fred Griffin serves on the board of directors at the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership and Space Center Houston. A tourism venture, Space Center Houston is an on-site science museum that recognizes Houston’ historic role in space travel and astronaut training, and the location of Mission Control.
In a recent statement 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
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File: Space City News Bulletin. Collins Aerospace,. Houston Spaceport
Rendering: Courtesy: Collins Aerospace. Griffin Partners.