HOUSTON – (Realty News Report) – Rice Real Estate Company, in partnership with Lincoln Property Co., will soon break ground on a 200,000-SF research and development building called The Arc at the Ion District in Midtown Houston.
Construction on the $75 million project is expected to start in November, according to a filing with the Texas Department of Licensing & Regulation. Rice University, which will occupy space in the building including its planned AI Foundry, announced the project last year.
The Arc, located at Main Street and Eagle Street, will offer office and lab space. Transwestern has been handling leasing.
The Ion District is a 16-acre innovation hub in Houston created by Rice on several blocks of land near Main Street, Wheeler Avenue and Fannin Street. The district is on the Metro Rail line, about a mile from Rice University south of downtown.
Rice Real Estate, a subsidiary of Rice University, developed the first building in The Ion district at 4201 Main Street, a 266,000-SF office building that was the redevelopment of a 1939-Vintage Sears store – one of the first retail stores to venture outside of downtown Houston. The district also includes Greentown Labs, a 30,000-SF climate technology hub at 4200 San Jacinto, and a 10-story parking garage.
As a lead tenant at The Arc, Rice will advance research and industry collaboration in the fields of artificial intelligence, data science, robotics, computational engineering, and energy.
Designed by HKS, The Arc will be constructed on the north side of the former Sears building and will share a plaza with The Ion. The seven-story building will feature a lobby, retail, gym and yoga studio on the ground floor with six levels of office and lab space above and parking below.
Completion is expected in early 2028.
Oct. 26, 2026, Realty News Report Copyright 2026
Feature image: Rendering by Neoscape. Courtesy of HKS.
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