Houston's economic diversity Thread .. (San Antonio, Mission: casinos, land, offices)

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

Big news here. Good to see aerospace making a comeback. 1000 jobs expected too

Great to see the Spaceport finally getting a payoff. Hopefully more to follow. Aerospace is another bit of "low hanging fruit" for Houston to pluck thanks to the Spaceport and our NASA (ongoing) legacy.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

Great to see the Spaceport finally getting a payoff. Hopefully more to follow. Aerospace is another bit of "low hanging fruit" for Houston to pluck thanks to the Spaceport and our NASA (ongoing) legacy.

Boeing is reportedly hiring in their existing Houston campus (mainly a space ship parts engineering campus). So there’s your follow up I guess

Anyway, while there are some other smaller scale companies, Axiom is pretty much the only company outside of Space X that have a full scale operation for Aerospace. There’s some that are almost defunct anda somw that are smaller scale with specific focus but those are the big 2 at this point. Anda most of those smaller ones have a presence here or are staring to.

Also, NASA funded Aerospace Innovation hub at the Rice Innovation District so there’s a related development. On that note, it’s good to see the effects of it before it even opens. I love how we are managing to take advantage of the return of Aerospace

[Jack Lance]

Originally Posted by Jack Lance

Clear Lake based private space company is expanding to accommodate a larger staff and a mission control center, helping to expand Houston's economic diversity.

Intuitive Machines has relocated to a larger office with a mission control center as it plans for its upcoming lunar mission, according to real estate services firm Savills.

The private space systems development company tapped Savills for tenant representation and project management services for its new 22,300-square-foot headquarters. The company relocated from the first floor of the Boeing building at 3700 Bay Area Blvd. in the Clear Lake area to half a floor on the sixth level.

The company needed more space to support an expanded staff and host a mission control center, according to Savills. The anticipated launch date is October 2021.

The mission control center is shown at the new headquarters for Intuitive Machines at 3700 Bay Area Blvd. Savills assisted with the lease and provided project management services in collaboration with architecture firm CDI Douglass Pye.Photo: Jesus Motto

The mission control center is configured in a circular design to enable team members to gather without having to relocate from their desks. The center connects with the landlord’s generator for emergency back-up power.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/real-estate/article/Houston-company-gets-new-HQ-with-modern-and-15624909.php?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=emai l&utm_campaign=HC_AfternoonReport&utm_term=news&ut m_content=headlines&sid=599cec0e24c17c50392c1d98#p hoto-20067502

Originally Posted by Jack Lance

Update:

Airlock aloft as NASA uses Nanoracks technology for the Space Station

The Bishop Airlock is finally in its natural habitat: microgravity.

The 2,200-pound airlock was never intended for the comforts of Earth. Its aluminum exterior and electrical components were made for the extreme temperatures and radiation of space, where the airlock will become a door, of sorts, for satellites and experiments exiting the International Space Station.

The Bishop Airlock, designed, owned and operated by Webster-based Nanoracks, traveled into space Sunday on the 21st SpaceX cargo resupply mission. It launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

The airlock filled every inch of the Dragon spacecraft’s trunk, the unpressurized part of the vehicle, and was among the roughly 6,500 pounds of cargo carried into space. SpaceX also delivered supplies for the station’s seven-person crew, science and research investigations, and spacewalk equipment.


Nanoracks employees wrap the Bishop Airlock with special plastic before shipping it to Florida, where it will be launched to the International Space Station, Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, in Webster. The airlock will ultimately increase the number and size of satellites, equipment and experiments that can access space from the station.Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

The Bishop Airlock, however, is notable because it will become the station’s first commercial airlock. In fact, it is the station’s first permanent, complex element to be owned and operated by a commercial company.

Airlock aloft as NASA uses Nanoracks technology for the Space Station - HoustonChronicle.com

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

Boeing is reportedly hiring in their existing Houston campus (mainly a space ship parts engineering campus). So there’s your follow up I guess

Anyway, while there are some other smaller scale companies, Axiom is pretty much the only company outside of Space X that have a full scale operation for Aerospace. There’s some that are almost defunct anda somw that are smaller scale with specific focus but those are the big 2 at this point. Anda most of those smaller ones have a presence here or are staring to.

Also, NASA funded Aerospace Innovation hub at the Rice Innovation District so there’s a related development. On that note, it’s good to see the effects of it before it even opens. I love how we are managing to take advantage of the return of Aerospace

NanoRacks and Intuitive Machines both have lucrative contracts with NASA. We have posted about both recently.

[Jack Lance]

A local space venture capital firm is funding start-up space ventures, both locally and around the world, helping to launch additional economic diversity into the Greater Houston economy.

Meagan Crawford compares space to the California gold rush. Prospectors needed to buy pickaxes, shovels and Levi’s jeans. And as more of these gold-seekers moved west, the businesses selling such necessities made more money.

Crawford is the managing partner of SpaceFund, a Houston-based venture capital firm investing in space startups. SpaceFund began raising its first fund in late 2019 and has thus far invested in 10 companies, including three in the Houston area.
Venture capital is money given to a young company in exchange for an ownership stake. It’s commonly used to fund tech companies poised to grow quickly — which can mean a large return for investors — but now it’s gaining traction among space startups.

SpaceFund managing partner Meagan Crawford poses for a portrait inside Axiom Space’s crew quarters module mockup, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020, in the Clear Lake area. SpaceFund is a venture capital firm investing in startups.Photo: Marie D. De Jesús, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

SpaceFund is tracking more than 2,100 space startups around the world, and there have been more than 50 exits since 2007. These exits, on average, occur when a company is 7 years old.

Locally, SpaceFund has invested in Eden Grow Systems, an aquaponics company developing a system to grow food on Mars; Cognitive Space, a software company creating artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to manage satellite fleets; and Axiom Space, which is building a commercial space station.
The gold rush of space: venture capital investing in space startups - HoustonChronicle.com

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Manufacturing has been creeping up on O&G as Houston’s biggest economic draw. I have a feeling it’s going to pass it up next year on the GHP report

[Jack Lance]

Houston-based recreational vehicle manufacturer TAXA Outdoors has never seen greater demand for its products.

Thanks to the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, shipments are up 30% this year with a backlog at six months; shipments for 2021 are expected to double. As such, the company expanded and relocated its headquarters to 7930 Blankenship Drive, near Houston’s Langwood area, to meet that demand. The new headquarters officially opened on Dec. 23.

“TAXA’s home is in Space City USA, and even though Covid-19 has disrupted much of the travel industry, our business is growing as more people are taking road trips to explore the outdoors,” said TAXA Outdoors CEO Garrett Finney. “Every habitat that has left our factory since March has been pre-sold to the end consumer without any inventory sitting on dealer lots. Our new factory will lead to increased production to meet demand. As we see families take work and school on the road, we see tremendous opportunity to enable more people to adventure outside.”

The new headquarters is a 69,356-square-foot building that will have 60,000 square feet of factory space, including three production lines capable of producing more than 3,000 recreational vehicles per year, TAXA Outdoors said. It will also house a podcast studio, meeting area and community yoga space. Additionally, 9,000 square feet of the new headquarters will be used for office space.

Prior to the headquarters relocation, TAXA Outdoors leased space at 1830 W. 15th Street in Houston.
TAXA Outdoors relocates headquarters in Houston - Houston Business Journal (bizjournals.com)



TAXA Outdoors - Mobile human habitats built for adventuring.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Maddox Defense moving headquarters from San Diego to Houston, just a few weeks after getting a billion dollar contract from the Defense Logostics Agency.

[Jack Lance]

We have 2 more examples of economic diversity in the Greater Houston economy today. First Alternative energy is also economic diversity for the Houston area.

The Texas Comptroller has approved tax incentives for Pattern Energy Group Inc.’s $175.1 million solar project.

The incentives would save the project, called Old Hickory Solar, $3.99 million in taxes over 10 years, according to the Comptroller’s analysis.

Pattern, whose core development team is based in Houston, expects to spend $175.1 million on the project, according to its tax incentive application. If everything proceeds as described in the application, Old Hickory would have a capacity of 206 megawatts. Construction would start in the first quarter of 2021, and the farm would start generating power in June of 2022, according to the application.

Pattern expects the Old Hickory project to create 180 full-time equivalent jobs during the peak construction period, and then two permanent jobs once it’s complete, the company said in the application. Both sets of jobs would pay on average about $65,000 annually, the company said.
Comptroller approves $4M incentives for Pattern Energy solar farm - Houston Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

Secondly we have more info on a post that ParaguaneroSwag posted a couple of days ago

Amid a wave of corporate relocations to the Lone Star State, a California-based manufacturer of medical equipment recently moved its headquarters to the Bayou City.

Formerly based in San Diego, Maddox Defense is now headquartered at 4915 Cranswick Road, near the intersection of Beltway 8 and Highway 290 in northwest Houston. The move occurred in December.

It's unclear how many Maddox employees work out of the greater Houston region. The company did not respond to the Houston Business Journal's inquiries. In a news release, Maddox said the firm employs thousands of workers and had been expanding its operations in the Houston area since March 2020.

Data from the U.S. Department of Defense show that Maddox was awarded a roughly $88.6 million contract from the Defense Logistics Agency in September. The company announced in November that it would supply 73 million disposable isolation gowns to the Strategic National Stockpile under the one-year contract.

Maddox Defense moves HQ to Houston from California - Houston Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

[Jack Lance]

Although not explicitly diverse the fact that in at least the case of one nationwide moving company Houston leads the nation in corporate relocations.

Many Americans still relocated to other cities for work amid the coronavirus pandemic last year, with Texas, Florida and California among the top destinations, according to a report from moving company Allied Van Lines.

The company’s annual Magnet States Report released Jan. 6 looked at migration trends identified in its nationwide consumer and corporate moves throughout 2020.

The study found the top five destination states for Allied corporate moves last year were Texas, California, Illinois, Florida and North Carolina. These five continue to be the highest volume destination states in line with trends from 2019.

Allied's top corporate move destination city was Houston for the second year in a row.

Allied, based in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois, said its data aligns with Census Bureau estimates reported in April 2020 that counties in the South and West lead the country in population growth.

https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/...g-in-2020.html

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Looks like Xtra Airways is preparing for its second hub after Houston to be in LA.