New Business Announcements: Q2/24

These announcements represent companies that are either establishing new operations in the region, relocating or expanding their existing operations in the area.

CATEGORY

The bulk of activity involved the expansion of existing, Houston-area operations, which totaled 148 projects in Q2 2024. These are companies that already have establishments in the Houston area and have either expanded their real estate footprint in the area or have added a significant number of new jobs. 

A total of 32 businesses established new facilities in the Houston area in Q2 2024.

To qualify as a “new business announcement,” the project must disclose at least one of the following:  jobs created, capital investment and/or footage of office or industrial space leased. These 180 new business announcements represent a total of over 12 million square feet of real estate growth in the Houston region.

FACILITY TYPE

The project announcements during Q2 2024 fell into five categories: distribution and warehouse, headquarters, manufacturing, office, and research and development. 

INDUSTRY

A quarter (26 percent) of the announcements in Q2 2024 involved companies engaged in manufacturing. This includes industries such as solar panel and battery chemical manufacturing to medical equipment manufacturing. Notable companies included Imperial Star Solar, Orion S.A. and Cooper Surgical. 

Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services ranked second and accounted for 16 percent of all announcements. This sector primarily comprised companies specializing in law firms, engineering, and scientific research and development. Notable companies included BioNova, PranaX, Lummus Technology and Gulf Interstate Engineering.

2024 PARTNERSHIP WINS

The Partnership’s economic development team worked directly with our regional partners on multiple new business announcements during Q2 2024. The Partnership’s support included services supporting site selection, outlining potential incentives, understanding workforce needs, and general market research for the Houston area. In Q2 2024, these Partnership-supported projects collectively generated more than 1,280 new jobs, attracted more than $304.5 million in capital investment, and represented 3 U.S.-based companies and 5 international companies.

Details on select Partnership projects:

• Bionova Scientific Inc. is a biotechnology manufacturer headquartered in California that is expanding its research and development division with a 100,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in The Woodlands.
• Fluence Energy, a manufacturer of grid-scale batteries, is opening an office in the Houston region for engineering and other operations. The project will create 300 jobs with approximately $5M in capital expenditures.
• QYK Brands is a California-based manufacturer of wet wipes, cleaning products, and personal care and wellness products that is building a biochemical manufacturing plant in Liberty County. The project will create 1,000 jobs with $400M in capital expenditures.
• Winit America, an Asian supply chain management company, is leasing a warehouse in Houston. The project will create 50 jobs with $3.5M in capital expenditures.
• May Food Produce, a produce wholesaler, is relocating their warehouse and operations to the Houston region and are purchasing land to build a produce distribution center. The project will create 50 jobs with $14.5M in capital expenditures.
• Polyhose, an industrial hose manufacturer and distributor, is opening a distribution site in the Houston area. The project will create 30 jobs with $6M in capital expenditures.

Methodology

The Partnership Methodology compiles information from a variety of sources for our New Business Announcements (NBAs) database. Methods include, but are not limited to, scraping news articles, monitoring Google alerts, and tapping into several databases, such as CoStar. We also include Partnership-assisted projects from our Economic Development Division. Generally, NBAs are projects that meet the qualifying criteria for new and/or expanded corporate real estate facilities, such as having new construction or renovation and meeting one or more of the following criteria: creating 20 or more new jobs, having 5,000 or more square footage, or having an investment of $1 million or more. Retail, educational, government, and other non-commercial facilities do not qualify, but projects creating a headquarters, data center, distribution warehouse, call center, or research and development facility will count.

Prepared by Greater Houston Partnership Research

Margaret Barrientos
Research Analyst
mbarrientos@houston.org