The Ion, the centerpiece of a Houston innovation district developed by Rice University, has a new neighbor: Greentown Labs, a community of startups taking on climate change.
Greentown Labs describes itself as the city's first-ever climate tech and clean tech startup incubator. The incubator will open next spring in Midtown's former Fiesta Mart, one block from the Ion. The 40,000-square-foot building will provide prototyping lab, office and community space for about 50 startups and 200 to 300 employees.
Mayor Sylvester Turner formally announced the partnership Sept. 22, joined by representatives from the Greater Houston Partnership (GHP), the Rice Management Co. (RMC), Microsoft and Saint-Gobain.
“Last week the Rice Alliance announced their Clean Energy Accelerator, which will help to create and foster a new generation of young entrepreneurs in our city," he said. "Today we have another exciting announcement that marks Houston’s progress toward becoming the energy transition capital of the world.”
Having Greentown Labs and Chevron as the first tenants “creates a strong energy presence in the district and a pipeline of potential companies that can join Greentown Houston,” said Rice President David Leebron. “It puts these companies in a unique position to connect and collaborate and build meaningful impact for the project, the city and the community.”
Leebron said the partnership will welcome many different types of companies into the mixed-use space, but they remain focused on energy — a “central strategy of our city and its innovation district.”
“Greentown’s goal is our goal and the goal of the Climate Action Plan," Turner said. "It’s not about moving Houston away from the energy industry. But it is about Houston moving the energy industry forward.”
The Ion, a 300,000-square-foot mixed-use space in the former Midtown Sears building, and the innovation district aim to increase the diversification and resiliency of the regional economy by “creating a timeless, urban, pedestrian-focused, mixed-use space that embraces technology, community and sustainability where employers of all sizes and employees of all experiences and backgrounds want to work, live, share and learn,” said Ryan LeVasseur, managing director of the RMC.
“Greentown Houston is a much-welcome neighbor to the Ion," he added. “When open early next year, the Ion will serve its mission to accelerate innovation and connect corporate innovators, academic partners, community thinkers, startups and entrepreneurs so they can collaborate and creating meaningful opportunities and impacts.”