Only Dallas surpasses Houston for retail construction right now. Getty Images

Get ready for a gigantic cartload of new shopping opportunities in Houston. A new report indicates the equivalent of 21 Walmart supercenters is under construction in the region.

The report, published by commercial real estate services provider Lee & Associates, says Houston has nearly 3.9 million square feet of retail space under construction, making it the second most active market for new retail space in the U.S.

To put that in perspective, given the average Walmart supercenter measures 182,000 square feet, the 3.9 million-square-foot total would work out to 21 new supercenters being built in the region.

Dallas-Fort Worth is by far the most active U.S. market for new retail space; DFW leads more than 60 U.S. retail markets with nearly 7.15 million square feet of space under construction. The amount of retail space going up in DFW represents 15 percent of all retail space under construction in the more than 60 U.S. markets tracked by Lee & Associates.

Houston and Austin aren’t too far behind Dallas-Fort Worth, though.

Third-ranked Austin area has more than 3.4 million square feet of retail space being built.

What’s behind the surge in retail construction across Texas? Population growth.

Data recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau shows Houston was the second-fastest-growing metro from 2023 to 2024. DFW was the country’s third-fastest-growing metro from 2023 to 2024, based on the number of new residents, and Austin landed at No. 13.

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This article originally appeared on CultureMap.com.

First phase of the RAD Center opened in spring 2024. Courtesy photo

$44 million mass timber project at UH slashed energy use in first year

Building Up

The University of Houston has completed assessments on year one of the first mass timber project on campus, and the results show it has had a major impact.

Known as the Retail, Auxiliary, and Dining Center, or RAD Center, the $44 million building showed an 84 percent reduction in predicted energy use intensity, a measure of how much energy a building uses relative to its size, compared to similar buildings. Its Global Warming Potential rating, a ratio determined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, shows a 39 percent reduction compared to the benchmark for other buildings of its type.

In comparison to similar structures, the RAD Center saved the equivalent of taking 472 gasoline-powered cars driven for one year off the road, according to architecture firm Perkins & Will.

The RAD Center was created in alignment with the AIA 2030 Commitment to carbon-neutral buildings, designed by Perkins & Will and constructed by Houston-based general contractor Turner Construction.

Perkins & Will’s work reduced the building's carbon footprint by incorporating lighter mass timber structural systems, which allowed the RAD Center to reuse the foundation, columns and beams of the building it replaced. Reused elements account for 45 percent of the RAD Center’s total mass, according to Perkins & Will.

Mass timber is considered a sustainable alternative to steel and concrete construction. The RAD Center, a 41,000-square-foot development, replaced the once popular Satellite, which was a food, retail and hangout center for students on UH’s campus near the Science & Research Building 2 and the Jack J. Valenti School of Communication.

The RAD Center uses more than 1 million pounds of timber, which can store over 650 metric tons of CO2. Aesthetically, the building complements the surrounding campus woodlands and offers students a view both inside and out.

“Spaces are designed to create a sense of serenity and calm in an ecologically-minded environment,” Diego Rozo, a senior project manager and associate principal at Perkins & Will, said in a news release. “They were conceptually inspired by the notion of ‘unleashing the senses’ – the design celebrating different sights, sounds, smells and tastes alongside the tactile nature of the timber.”

In addition to its mass timber design, the building was also part of an Energy Use Intensity (EUI) reduction effort. It features high-performance insulation and barriers, natural light to illuminate a building's interior, efficient indoor lighting fixtures, and optimized equipment, including HVAC systems.

The RAD Center officially opened Phase I in spring 2024. The third and final phase of construction is scheduled for this summer, with a planned opening set for the fall.

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This article originally appeared on EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

Eli Lilly is looking to build an active pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturing facility at Generation Park. Rendering courtesy of McCord

Pharmaceutical giant looks to bring $5.9 billion facility to Houston

in the works

Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company is looking to build a $5.9 billion active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing facility in Houston, according to a recent filing with the state of Texas.

The proposal states that the project plans to employ 604 full-time direct employees at the site upon ramp-up completion. These would include operations technicians, production specialists, maintenance support, quality control/assurance, engineering, administration, and management. Construction is projected to begin in 2026, with a completion target of 2030 and commercial operations beginning in 2031.

If completed, Lilly would purchase 236 acres at Houston’s Generation Park from McCord Development, the commercial development’s owner. The purchase would include multiple buildings, outdoor facilities, infrastructure buildout, and equipment installation.

This proposed Texas plant would be part of Lilly’s $27 billion effort to expand its U.S. production capacity, which was announced in February and includes construction on four new facilities in America. Lilly has previously referred to the plants as “mega sites.”

"This represents the largest pharmaceutical expansion investment in U.S. history," Lilly CEO David Ricks said during the February news conference.

The company has applied for school tax abatements under the new Texas Jobs, Energy, Technology, and Innovation program, according to reports from the Houston Business Journal. This incentive program allows school districts to limit the taxable value of a property for a portion of school taxes, which could save companies millions of dollars on a large portion of property tax bills. It also gives a 10-year tax cut for new manufacturing and development facilities, as long as there is localized job creation.

Houston Intercontinental Airport's Terminal D expansion and renovation project is nearing completion. Photo courtesy of Houston Airports

Houston Intercontinental Airport's innovative upgrades ready for takeoff

coming soon

After almost five years of construction, passengers heading out of Bush Intercontinental Airport on October 22 will be the very first to experience the expanded, upgraded, and stylish Terminal D-West Pier, an expansion of the existing Terminal D.

The new terminal is part of a broader initiative, the IAH Terminal Redevelopment Program (ITRP), a $1.458 billion project aimed at modernizing the airport's international travel capabilities. ITRP is the single largest capital improvement project developed by Houston Airports and include the refresh of the existing Terminal D, completed in 2023; the expansion of Terminal D with a new D-West Pier, which will be completed this fall 2024; and a new International Central Processor, slated for winter of 2024 and summer of 2025. More than 3,000 people spent more than one million hours on the construction project.

Terminal D-West Pier features six new gates — D1 through D6 — that can simultaneously accommodate wide-body aircraft or converted to accommodate 10 narrow-body airplanes. The expanded terminal with its new capabilities supports increasing demand from passengers and airlines and should enhance the overall travel experience.

The new terminal is part of a broader initiative, the IAH Terminal Redevelopment Program (ITRP), a $1.458 billion project aimed at modernizing the airport's international travel capabilities. Photo courtesy of Houston Airports

In addition to adding 160,000-square-feet, the new wing also boasts eight new, Houston-inspired works by local artists. Those kind of details are why the Houston airport system won Best Airport Art & Entertainment Program in the prestigious Skytrax awards.

The airport's 250 newly-hired employees will work among 16 new retail and dining concessions concepts in the Terminal D-West Pier. Passengers can dine at Houston Supply Co., which opened last month. Local restaurants The Kitchen and The Annie, along with popular national brands Popeyes, Einstein Bros. Bagels, Jamba Juice, Be Relax, Jetero Market, Semi-Sweet Confectionary, and a Lego Store will open for business on October 22.

The new wing also boasts eight new, Houston-inspired works by local artists. Photo courtesy of Houston Airports

"We are focused on improving the overall passenger experience at the airport — from parking and traffic to providing modern terminals with the right amenities. This project is a major investment in our city's future," Houston Mayor John Whitmire said in a statement. "The newly expanded international terminal enhances Houston's reputation as a world-class city and provides a boost to our economy, supporting jobs and attracting more visitors from around the globe."

The new terminal offers a host of other amenities designed to make passengers' experiences more comfortable. They include a mother's room, a sensory room, a child's play area, and expanded men's, women's, and family restrooms. The restrooms utilize smart technology sensors that trigger soap and water. Door locks alert to whether a restroom stall is vacant or occupied and soft LED lighting accentuates floor-to-ceiling photography spotlighting Houston's natural beauty.

The new wing has 16 new retail and dining concessions concepts. Photo courtesy of Houston Airports

An International Arrivals corridor provides views of the airfield, the concourse, and large-scale photography inspired by Houston.

More than 500 modern and comfortable seats, including chairs, cushioned benches, and cozy loungers, featuring cup holders and charging capabilities, are present inside the terminal.

"We are excited to share this milestone with the residents of Houston," said Jim Szczesniak, director of aviation for Houston Airports. "The opening of the Terminal D-West Pier is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team and our partners. This world-class facility will provide a seamless and efficient travel experience for millions of passengers each year. The new pier will provide the necessary capacity so that Houston can continue to attract more nonstop flights to cities around the globe."

New features include a mother's room, a sensory room, a child's play area, and expanded men's, women's, and family restrooms. Photo courtesy of Houston Airports

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This article originally ran on CultureMap.

Proactively engaging in advocating for opportunities within the industry across all job levels is essential to guaranteeing a consistent influx of skilled workers, meeting the growing construction demands of both our state and nation. Photo via Getty Images

Expert: Addressing skilled labor needs in Houston — including the role technology plays

guest column

The construction industry in the U.S. is experiencing a substantial demand for skilled workers. There are over 438,000 job openings, and this demand is projected to increase, aiming to attract over half a million workers to meet the upcoming labor needs.

The urgency is heightened as a significant percentage — more than 40 percent — of the existing workforce is expected to retire within the next eight years.

To top it off, Texas is the fastest growing state with more than nine million new residents between 2000 and 2022. With a growing population, the requirement for robust infrastructure, encompassing various sectors like transportation, health care, education, and residential development, continues to escalate. Encouraging careers in construction among the younger generation becomes vital for everyone, no matter their industry, to meet these demands and bridge the deepening skills gap.

Viable Career Path: Attracting the next wave of construction talent involves dispelling misconceptions about the industry. Many young individuals might not realize the breadth of opportunities available in construction beyond traditional manual labor. I personally gained interest and experience in the industry at a young age before navigating through a few IT careers, and then landed back in construction and worked my way up, which exemplifies the diverse career paths within the industry.

Education and training play a pivotal role in molding the future workforce. Highlighting that formal education isn't the sole path to success, apprenticeships and on-the-job training programs emerge as excellent alternatives, providing hands-on learning experiences while earning a wage. Collaborating with educational institutions and organizations at an early stage can introduce students to the industry's diverse career avenues.

As with every industry, diversity encourages innovation. Business leaders who intentionally recruit from underrepresented groups, including women and minorities, within the industry will reap countless benefits.

Innovative Technologies: Showcasing the innovative and technological aspects of the industry, such as precision tools, drone technology, AI, and virtual reality, underscores the creative and forward-thinking nature of construction careers. The construction industry continues to evolve and become technologically advanced. The need for cutting-edge individuals who possess construction skills with an understanding of technical innovations will transform the industry.

Stability: Highlighting the industry’s stability, competitive compensation, and the promising opportunities for career growth can further attract potential candidates. Advocating for stringent safety measures and emphasizing the importance of sustainable building practices introduces an added layer of social responsibility, capturing the attention of those committed to ensuring a secure work environment.

Ultimately, the collective efforts of the current workforce and today’s business leaders are pivotal in addressing the imminent skills gap that stands to affect us all. Proactively engaging in advocating for opportunities within the industry across all job levels is essential to guaranteeing a consistent influx of skilled workers, meeting the growing construction demands of both our state and nation.

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Randy Pitre serves as the vice president of operations for Skanska USA Building’s North Texas and Houston building operations.

HIVE 3D is bringing science fiction to reality with this Texas project. Photo courtesy of HIVE 3D

This Houston company is 3D printing homes with eco-friendly materials

future of construction

While it may be true that the mother of invention is necessity, in today’s startup market, a more important factor is disruption. That’s where HIVE 3D, a Texas-based leader in constructing eco-friendly 3D printed homes, flourishes.

HIVE 3D was already revolutionizing the home-builder industry with its lightweight gantry system and mobile robotic arm system to 3D print its homes, but it took a giant leap further with its partnership with Utah-based Eco Material Technologies, North America’s leading producer of sustainable cement alternatives.

Together, they are building the world’s first near-zero-carbon, 3D-printed homes. Using Eco Material’s cement mixture called PozzoCEM Vite, which has 92 percent lower emissions than traditional concrete that can set in just a few minutes, they are focusing on providing a sustainable, cost-efficient and affordable housing solution.

“We want our homes to last 1,000 years,” Timothy Lankau, CEO, Hive 3D CEO, tells InnovationMap. “We want archaeologists to dig them up and wonder what they were. I mean, you go to the Parthenon in Rome, and it looks similar today to how it did 2,000 years ago because the materials are so stable.

“Concrete's just a very stable material. It doesn't change over time, and that's also why building with stone and masonry is important for the future. We think it's more sustainable because it's ultimately going to be better in terms of longevity.”

Key collaboration

Eco Material Technologies and HIVE 3D’s collaborative mission began through a mutual desire to develop sustainable and eco-friendly solutions for the construction industry.

“Both companies recognized the pressing need to reduce the environmental impact of traditional construction materials and processes and the need for affordable, high-quality housing,” says Grant Quasha, CEO of Eco Material Technologies. “The partnership between the two companies began when Eco Material Technologies reached out to HIVE 3D to explore the potential of incorporating their eco-friendly materials into 3D printed construction.

“HIVE 3D recognized the opportunity to combine their expertise with sustainable material solutions. The finished product of this collaboration is an eco-friendly construction material that can be 3D printed into various structural elements like walls, floors and columns.”

Proof of concept

Photo courtesy of HIVE 3D

HIVE 3D’s first full project, a 3,150-square-foot home located in Burton, Texas, was printed with a rotating team of just four people using PozzoSlag, which replaces 50 percent of the portland cement in concrete and has been used in roads and bridges in Texas for over a decade.

The home used several innovations that hadn’t been used in a 3D printed house before, including parametric wall designs, foamcrete wall insulation, and pigmented concrete layers.

“Our product is more sustainable because it utilizes proprietary technology that allows for the use of alternative materials to replace the clinker and processes from traditional cement that contribute to its high emissions,” says Quasha. “It is estimated that the portland cement industry contributes to 8 percent of global emissions annually, but by utilizing Eco Material Technologies' cement replacement solutions ... builders can significantly decrease their carbon emissions without compromising on the product's setting time or long-term strength."

Each ton of portland cement replaced by a ton of Eco Material's products, PozzoSlag or Pozzocem, reduces emissions by close to one ton, Quasha explains.

The Calais project, located in Round Top, Texas, behind the Halles, an antique shopping and design destination, broke ground in March 2023 and will feature a collection of tiny homes known as casitas, including studio, single-bedroom and two-bedroom models, ranging from 400 to 900 square feet.

“These small homes will serve as a model for affordable and eco-friendly housing throughout the country,” says Lankau. “We plan to build them at a speed and cost point that is unprecedented in the affordable housing space.

“Ultimately, we want to build houses at a disruptive price point. We want to be vertically integrated and put our homes on the market at a significant discount to market wherever they are. And by significant, we're talking 20 or 30 percent. That's our goal.”

The right resources

Photo courtesy of HIVE 3D

HIVE 3D worked with CyBe Construction to create a mobile construction 3D printer and mixing system that allows the printing mortar to be mixed onsite, which eliminates a significant amount of labor and time, which means those savings can be passed on to the consumer.

“We worked with a company called CyBe in the Netherlands to build a robotic arm, and that arm has about an 11-foot reach, and it can go all the way in a circle around itself,” says Lankau. “So, it drives around the foundation of the house, printing sections of the house at a time. So, it'll print a section, drive to the next section, and print the next section.

“So instead of having this many different materials and these many different traits, people that do all these different things, we have a machine that just uses one material and prints the wall.”

HIVE 3D has an internal engineer that works through all of the structural issues that may come up on projects and helps them build homes with monolithic, foot-thick concrete walls with rebar and steel supported in them.

According to Lankau, their 3D printed homes are tornado-proof, hurricane-proof, pest-proof, bullet-proof and can virtually withstand anything because of the sustainable materials used to build them.

“They're everything-proof,” says Lankau. “Just because of the natural strength of the concrete and the steel we use to create them, they can support millions of pounds. So, it's actually a stronger material than a typical house. By a factor of 100. Like I said, it's bulletproof and tornado-proof. You could drive a car into it, and it would total the car. I mean, it's a very, very sturdy structure.”

A bright future

Photo courtesy of HIVE 3D

Moving forward, HIVE 3D would like to continue to innovate and advance its 3D printing technology by leaps and bounds.

“The science fiction goal here, which is maybe a five-year goal, is to be able to drive onto a site, press a button, and watch the robots work,” says Lankau. “We want to be a significant home builder. So, in five years, we want to be building a lot of houses quickly and affordably and we want to continue to automate more and more of the process.”

Right now, there is no formal process for commissioning a HIVE 3D printed home. Perspective customers are directed to the website, then put in a request to build a home, go through a screening process and if the project is a good fit, they'll put that project into their pipeline.

“We can build them quickly. It's just a matter of getting to them,” says Lankau. “We're also going to be doing some developments in Texas probably to start. We also have some international things that we'll be looking into next year. But right now, it's mostly in Texas. We'll be building some developments and putting those homes on the market. We hope to have some out this year and then a bigger chunk next year as we get more machines working. Those will be announced on our website.”

As HIVE 3D continues to find ways to scale its business model, there is a laser focus on the diminishing idea of the “American Dream,” where young families are able to purchase their first home. With the rising costs of supplies and labor, those families have been priced out of the market.

“That’s almost all we think about,” says Lankau. “Homeownership and that part of the American Dream is really struggling right now because the affordability gap between what the average person makes and what the average house on the market costs is just getting wider and wider.

According to Lankau, there are a lot of options to address the supply gap, but there aren’t an equal number of options to solve the affordability issue. Their goal is to find the best ways to deliver real cost savings over both traditional construction and other automated technologies.

“About three weeks ago, we kind of hit the inflection point in our current project where we printed a little house in three days. The cost of the house was what we wanted the cost to be, which is a disruptive amount less than what you could do traditionally or with any other construction technique. And we said, okay, now we're far enough along. We have this system. It's a scalable system. So, we're right now putting some capital together to go out and buy, build more of these machines and get out and start doing these truly affordable housing projects. Because that's where our heart is. Our heart's on the affordable side.”

HIVE 3D’s project in Burton, Texas isn’t available for sell yet, but it will be listed on Airbnb for interested customers to go and experience when it’s completed.

Additionally, the Casitas units in Round Top will be short-term rentals for festival patrons.

“We’ll go directly to market with our next projects,” says Lankau. “And then we'll sell that big house property in Burton at the end of this year.”

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NASA taps Houston-area company to explore low-cost spacecraft delivery

Webster-based Arrow Science and Technology is one of six companies picked by NASA to study low-cost ways to launch and deliver spacecraft for difficult-to-reach orbits.

In all, nine studies will be performed under a roughly $1.4 million award from NASA. Another Texas company, Cedar Park-based Firefly Aerospace, is also among the six companies working on the studies.

“With the increasing maturity of commercial space delivery capabilities, we’re asking companies to demonstrate how they can meet NASA’s need for multispacecraft and multiorbit delivery to difficult-to-reach orbits beyond current launch service offerings,” Joe Dant, a leader of the Launch Services Program at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, said in a news release. “This will increase unique science capability and lower the agency’s overall mission costs.”

Arrow is teaming up with Rockville, Maryland-based Quantum Space for its study. Quantum’s Ranger orbital transfer vehicle provides payload delivery services for spacecraft heading to low-Earth and lunar orbits.

Arrow, a Native American-owned small business, offers technical support and hardware manufacturing services for the space and defense industries.

James Baker, founder and president of Arrow, said in a news release that the combination of his company’s deployment systems with Quantum’s Ranger vehicle “allows our customers the ability to focus on the development of their payload[s] while we take care of getting them where they need to be.”

“This is an exciting opportunity to demonstrate the unique capabilities of our highly maneuverable Ranger spacecraft, which will expand NASA’s options for reaching dynamic and challenging … orbits,” Kerry Wisnosky, CEO of Quantum Space, added in the release.

The nine studies are scheduled to be completed by mid-September.

NASA said it will use the studies’ findings “to inform mission design, planning, and commercial launch acquisition strategies for risk-tolerant payloads, with a possibility of expanding delivery services to larger-sized payloads and to less risk-tolerant missions in the future.”

ExxonMobil may pause plans for $7 billion Baytown hydrogen plant

Change of Plans

Spring-based ExxonMobil, the country’s largest oil and gas company, might delay or cancel what would be the world’s largest low-carbon hydrogen plant due to a significant change in federal law. The project carries a $7 billion price tag.

The Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act created a new 10-year incentive, the 45V tax credit, for production of clean hydrogen. But under President Trump’s "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," the window for starting construction of low-carbon hydrogen projects that qualify for the tax credit has narrowed. The Inflation Reduction Act mandated that construction start by 2033. But the Big Beautiful Bill switched the construction start time to early 2028.

“While our project can meet this timeline, we’re concerned about the development of a broader market, which is critical to transition from government incentives,” ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO Darren Woods said during the company’s recent second-quarter earnings call.

Woods said ExxonMobil is working to determine whether a combination of the 45Q tax credit for carbon capture projects and the revised 45V tax credit will help pave the way for a “broader” low-carbon hydrogen market.

“If we can’t see an eventual path to a market-driven business, we won’t move forward with the [Baytown] project,” Woods said.

“We knew that helping to establish a brand-new product and a brand-new market initially driven by government policy would not be easy or advance in a straight line,” he added.

Woods said ExxonMobil is trying to nail down sales contracts connected to the project, including exports of ammonia to Asia and Europe and sales of hydrogen in the U.S.

ExxonMobil announced in 2022 that it would build the low-carbon hydrogen plant at its refining and petrochemical complex in Baytown. The company has said the plant is slated to go online in 2027 and 2028.

As it stands now, ExxonMobil wants the Baytown plant to produce up to 1 billion cubic feet of hydrogen per day made from natural gas, and capture and store more than 98 percent of the associated carbon dioxide. The company has said the project could store as much as 10 million metric tons of CO2 per year.

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This article originally appeared on EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

Texas A&M pilots $59M program for autonomous helicopters to fight wildfires

Autonomous firefighting

Texas A&M University's George H.W. Bush Combat Development Complex will receive $59.8 million to develop a way for autonomous helicopters to fight to wildfires in the state.

The funds appropriated from the Texas legislature will go toward acquiring up to four UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters and developing their autonomous configuration, as well as to facilities, tools and equipment for research, testing and integration of firefighting capabilities over the next two years, according to a release from Texas A&M.

The BCDC was also selected to work with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on its Aircrew Labor In-cockpit Automation System (ALIAS), which works to reduce risks for pilots and aircraft in high-risk missions.

"Working together with Texas, we have an opportunity to use autonomous helicopters to completely change the conversation around wildfires from containing them to extinguishing them,” Stuart Young, DARPA program manager for ALIAS, said in a release from DARPA.

The BCDC program will incorporate DARPA's automation toolkit, known as MATRIX, which has already demonstrated fully autonomous flight capabilities on approximately 20 aircraft platforms. MATRIX, which was developed by California-based Sikorsky Aircraft, was previously tested in proof-of-concept demonstrations of autonomous fire suppression in California and Connecticut earlier this year, according to DARPA.

“I am proud we are working with DARPA in a manner that will benefit Texas, the Department of Defense, and commercial industry,” retired Maj. Gen. Tim Green, director of the BCDC, said in the release. “Wildland firefighting will be the first mission application fully developed to take advantage of over a decade of work by DARPA on its Aircrew Labor In-cockpit Automation System (ALIAS).”

The BDC will test fully automated and semi-automated ALIAS-equipped aircraft on highly complex firefighting tasks. The complex will also work with Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi’s Autonomy Research Institute, the Texas Division of Emergency Management, the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service, the Texas A&M Forest Service and the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station on the project.

John Diem, director of the innovation proving grounds at BCDC, will serve as principal investigator for the project.

“Advancing system capabilities through the last stages of technology maturation, operational testing, and concept development is always hugely exciting and rewarding,” Diem added in the release. “The best part of my career has been seeing systems I tested move into the hands of warfighters. Now, I’m proud to help ensure ALIAS is safe and effective in protecting life and property – and we will do that through realistic and challenging testing.”