HOUSTON – (By Dale King, Realty News Report) — Work&, a health and wellness provider offering services benefiting tenants, employers and commercial real estate landlords, opened its first hybrid Work Wellbeing and Work&Mother facilities at MetroNational’s Memorial City Plazas in west Houston’s Memorial City.
The accommodations that launched April 16 – which are available to all tenants across the plazas – functions through a partnership between Work& and MetroNational, a privately-held, Houston-based real estate investment and development company which owns and manages Memorial City. Together, the firms will operate wellness suites for all employees and fully stocked lactation units for use by new mothers just returning to work.
Located on the second floor of Two Memorial City Plaza, an 18-story office building at 820 Gessner Road, the 1,457 SF Work& space was designed by Houston-based Inventure and provides employees with five wellness suites and three private lactation areas.
More than just personal space, Work&Wellbeing suites are designed to accommodate a range of employee wellness and privacy requirements such as telehealth appointments, meditation and prayer.
In addition, Work&Mother’s lactation suites offer a relaxing and private environment for women to prepare breast milk for their infants. The suites are fully equipped, giving new mothers the opportunity to pump breast milk in private quarters during the workday.
Work& is the premier national provider of lactation suites and virtual support resources for employed new mothers, with several locations nationwide.
Facilities are supplied with all equipment nursing mothers require such as hospital-grade pumps, milk storage bags, cleaning and sanitizing supplies and all other items to make the process streamlined and comfortable. The Houston-based start-up provides full-service mothers’ rooms for commercial office buildings, paired with a resource app, The Resource Hub, establishing a new standard for workplace amenities.
Lactation suites expedite compliance with legal demands like the PUMP Act which requires employers to provide sufficient paid break time to support breastfeeding mothers’ needs — and Work&’s provisions dovetail with these rules. More than 75 percent of new mothers return to work after having a baby, but fewer than half remain on the job through the first year. Lactation suites aim to make that transition more productive and successful for workers and employers.
Research shows 90 percent of new moms who have returned to work and use Work&Mother are still breastfeeding after six months compared with just 10 percent of moms who returned to work and don’t.
“MetroNational has a proven track record of providing innovative building amenities that contribute to leasing success and tenant experience,” said Jules Lairson, co-founder & chief operating officer of Work&. “Employees, employers and landlords all benefit from this kind of forward-thinking tenant experience.”
“As operators of the suites, we bring the space, the tools and the support, both on-site and off-site, to support working mothers who need private, secure and beautiful spaces to pump, and other employees who need a quiet space for personal health and wellness reasons,” Lairson added.
“As a family-owned and operated company, MetroNational is deeply committed to fostering a workplace that supports both productivity and the well-being of all our tenants,” said Anne Marie Ratliff, vice president of asset management for MetroNational. “Partnering with Work& reinforces this commitment, enhancing our workplace experience and setting a new standard for tenant amenities.”
In partnership with ArtLifting, the lactation and wellness suites also showcase artworks from artists affected by disabilities and housing insecurity.
Two Memorial City is one of three office towers on the 300-acre Memorial City Plazas campus, totaling nearly one million SF of Class A office space. In 2022, MetroNational completed a $25 million renovation of Memorial City Plazas.
The revamped complex now includes reimagined lobbies, state-of-the-art fitness center, full-service conference center, meeting rooms and a second location of the popular Montrose coffee shop, Blacksmith. The mixed-use business and leisure destination anchoring the city’s Memorial District is MetroNational’s landmark asset.
April 28, 2025 Realty News Report Copyright 2025
Photo: G. Lyon Architectural Photography. courtesy of MetroNational
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File: Work& Debuts at MetroNational Offices Memorial City Work& Debuts at MetroNational Offices