From the Houston Chronicle: Texas Medical Center's multibillion-dollar research campus opens, ushering in a new era

The Texas Governor and the city of Houston continue to work together the economic interests of the local area by enhancing the Texas Medical Center. 

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The first piece in a long-anticipated multibillion-dollar biomedical research campus opened Thursday in the Texas Medical Center, setting the stage for what could become a game-changing life sciences hub generating $5.4 billion in annual economic impact and tens of thousands jobs in Houston.

Houston has struggled to compete with larger life sciences magnets in San Francisco, Boston, San Diego and Raleigh-Durham, and the 37-acre Helix Park campus along Old Spanish Trail, a project nearly a decade in the making, represents a major milestone in helping the city gain momentum.

“When you looked at the incredible business and economic platform the state of Texas has, there was one glaring deficiency, and that is to have a massive hub for life sciences,” Gov. Greg Abbott said at the event.

Economic development officials think Helix Park will help to fill that gap, becoming a launch pad for a more mature life science industry in Texas.

The project is also the first time TMC, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Texas A&M University Health Science Center and UTHealth Houston have collaborated to build and finance a shared space to house their researchers under one roof.

“We've never really had a place where all of us felt like it was ours,” Bill McKeon, president of TMC, said in an interview. Shared laboratory spaces, plus a plethora of communal areas and coworking/office spaces, are meant to encourage researchers to mingle and collaborate.