The Greater Houston Partnership celebrates our members making important announcements and sharing news about their operations and impact in our region. Learn more about some of those announcements over the last month below.
Business Moves
- Houston hosted its first Economic Mobility Summit, bringing together more than 150 leaders from business, government, nonprofits, and academia to address barriers to upward mobility. Convened by Good Reason Houston, the Greater Houston Community Foundation, Greater Houston Partnership, Rice University’s Kinder Institute, and United Way of Greater Houston. The two-day event featured national experts like Dr. Raj Chetty and Urban Institute President Sarah Rosen Wartell. They emphasized how education, housing, health, and neighborhood conditions shape long-term opportunities. Local leaders stressed the importance of coordinated, long-term strategies, noting that even children raised just miles apart can experience vastly different outcomes. The organizations are committed to aligning goals, measuring progress, and expanding economic opportunity across the region.
- Houston Dynamo FC owner Ted Segal is investing heavily in upgrades to Shell Energy Stadium. This is building on over $30 million in previous improvements since he took majority ownership in 2021. The planned enhancements set to debut in February include frictionless entry using Evolv technology. They also include a complete overhaul of the stadium’s sound system, and expanded airflow via more overhead fans in the upper seating bowl. These moves reflect Segal’s long-term commitment to enhancing the fan experience, especially ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
- Enterprise Products Partners announced that it is further expanding its share‑buyback program, raising its authorization to $5 billion following its third‑quarter 2025 results. The company cited strong free cash flow and a low capital spending forecast as reasons for the increased buyback. The move signals confidence in the business and a focus on returning capital to investors.
- Crown Castle’s new CEO, Christian Hillabrant, is confident about future growth tied to mobile data demand. He says the company expects to benefit from spectrum deployment as the FCC plans to auction roughly 800 MHz of available spectrum starting in 2027. Under his leadership, Crown Castle has raised its 2025 outlook and highlighted its position as a pure‑play U.S. tower company. This is after the planned sale of its small-cell and fiber businesses.
- Howard Hughes Communities has selected Morgan, a Houston-based multifamily firm, to manage over 3,250 rental residences across 11 properties in two major master-planned communities, The Woodlands and Bridgeland. Morgan will handle leasing, resident services, and on-site operations, using a “boutique-style” approach designed to align with Howard Hughes’s high standards for quality and placemaking.
- The Houston Zoo is improving its Shani Market gift shop in the African Forest. This will enhance both visitor experience and retail operations. These updates, part of the zoo’s larger Centennial Campaign, focus on modern design, improved circulation, and sustainable practices, including reducing single-use plastics. COAR renovations have successfully blended the zoo’s historic charm with interactive displays and flexible merchandising. By investing in these upgrades, the Houston Zoo demonstrates a forward-thinking business strategy, combining innovation and sustainability to create a more engaging and environmentally conscious experience for visitors.
Education
- Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business has again been ranked No. 1 for graduate entrepreneurship by The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine marking its seventh straight year at the top. This recognition reflects Rice’s deep entrepreneurial ecosystem, anchored by its Lilie Idea Lab, Rice Alliance, and the globally renowned Rice Business Plan Competition. Meanwhile, the University of Houston’s Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship at Bauer College maintains its No. 1 undergraduate entrepreneurship program status for the seventh consecutive year.
- Houston Endowment has awarded $5 million in planning grants to nine Gulf Coast community colleges. Each college received $500,000, plus an additional $500,000 from the Texas Association of Community Colleges for coordination and support. The funding is intended to help these colleges implement strategies aligned with recent state reforms, aimed at boosting student completion rates and workforce readiness.
- MacKenzie Scott has given $63 million to Prairie View A&M University, marking the largest single donation in the historically Black university’s 149-year history. The unrestricted gift will help expand PVAMU’s endowment and support strategic priorities in its “Journey to Eminence: 2035” plan. This includes scholarships, academic support, and research in areas like AI, cybersecurity, public health, and space exploration.
Energy Transition
- Rice University has partnered with Australian explorer Locksley Resources to develop U.S.-based processing for antimony, a critical mineral used in defense systems, electronics, and batteries. The collaboration will focus on two main research areas, a green, low‑energy extraction process and the development of antimony-based materials for energy storage applications like lithium‑ion and sodium‑ion batteries. Locksley will supply antimony-rich feedstock from its Mojave Desert project and fund the research, while Rice’s Advanced Materials Institute, led by Prof. Pulickel Ajayan, will lead the science. This effort aims to reduce U.S. reliance on foreign antimony, strengthen domestic supply chains, and support energy resilience.
- Houston-based Intuitive Machines has signed a lease with Texas A&M University Space Institute for a dedicated bay at the state’s upcoming 400,000-square-foot lunar/Mars-terrain simulation facility. The bay will host testing of its Moon RACER (Reusable Autonomous Crewed Exploration Rover) in a simulated space environment to helping the company refine the rover’s performance before missions. Additionally, Intuitive Machines brought its extensive lunar surface data to support the institute’s terrain modeling and mission-planning efforts.
- Texas regulators have approved CenterPoint Energy’s $2.9 billion plan to strengthen Houston’s power grid after widespread outages during Hurricane Beryl. The three-year plan includes installing sturdier poles, burying more power lines, and increasing tree-trimming cycles to reduce storm-related damage. CenterPoint estimates the upgrades will prevent more than 820 million minutes of outage.
Health Care
- Rice University has launched the Rice Brain Institute, a bold, interdisciplinary research center that brings together faculty from engineering, the natural sciences, and social sciences to tackle brain health challenges like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and mental illness. Based in Houston near the Texas Medical Center, the institute will operate across three key pillars, neuroengineering, neuroscience, and “brain and society.” It will translate discoveries into real-world treatments, policies, and technologies. With more than $78 million already invested in related research and over 50 partnerships, Rice hopes RBI will position the region as a global leader in brain-health innovation.
- March of Dimes has launched the Texas Collaborative Prematurity Research Center. This center brings together UT Southwestern and UT Medical Branch to tackle Texas’ highest preterm birth rate. This is 11.1% higher than the national average. The center will use “pregnancy-on-a-chip” technology, AI-powered drug repurposing, and studies of nutrition and socioeconomic factors during pregnancy to identify and test new ways to prevent preterm births. Led by Dr. Catherine Spong (UTSW) and Dr. Ramkumar Menon (UTMB), the collaboration combines lab innovation with real-world clinical research leveraging UT Southwestern’s large birth population (13,000+ births annually) to validate findings.
- Texas Medical Center and Memorial Hermann Health System have teamed up to boost medical innovation through the TMC Center for Device Innovation. This empowers Memorial Hermann employees and physicians to turn their healthcare‑tech ideas into real, working prototypes. Innovators will pitch their devices in early 2026, under the mentorship of experts in medicine, regulation, reimbursement, and investment. Moreover, they get to use state-of-the-art prototyping labs, engineering support, and a dedicated workspace. The objective is to develop commercially viable, patentable patient-care technologies while fostering an innovation culture within the health care system.
Innovation
- Houston-based Venus Aerospace has secured strategic investment from Lockheed Martin Ventures, the defense contractor’s venture arm. This investment will help scale its cutting-edge rotating detonation rocket engine technology. The investment comes after Venus successfully completed a high-thrust RDRE test flight making it one of the few companies in the world with flight-proven, high-efficiency detonation propulsion. Venus says the funds will enable it to produce the engine at scale for both defense and commercial applications, including hypersonic aircraft.
- Honeywell has spun off its Advanced Materials business, now named Solstice Advanced Materials. It distributes one Solstice share for every four Honeywell shares as of Oct. 17, 2025 record date. Solstice is positioned as a sustainability‑focused specialty materials company with strengths in refrigerants, semiconductor materials, data‑center cooling, and healthcare packaging. The spin-off supports Honeywell’s broader strategy to simplify into three independent firms, automation, aerospace, and materials each with a more focused growth trajectory.
- Houston Grand Opera has named James Gaffigan its next music director. He’ll start as “director designate” in 2026-27 season and fully take over in 2027–28. Gaffigan, a Rice University Shepherd School of Music alum, is highly regarded internationally. His appointment signals HGO’s ambition to grow artistically while deepening its roots in the Houston community.
- California-based Astrolab has signed the first lease as a tenant on the under-construction $200 million Texas A&M University Space Institute, being built next to NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Astrolab, one of the companies selected by NASA to develop its next-generation lunar rover, plans to base over 200 employees in Houston by the end of 2026. Their lease covers approximately 5,436 square feet at the institute, which features simulated lunar and Martian terrain testbeds.
Transportation
- Houston Metro has restored full signal-priority service on the Red Line after riders and local leaders criticized recent changes that caused delays. The agency had previously adjusted traffic signal timing, which reduced preemption for Metro trains and slowed travel times. Following public pushback, Metro reversed the decision, saying restoration would improve reliability. In addition, engineers continue refining the system to balance transit efficiency with traffic flow. Riders reported faster trips since the correction, and Metro’s emphasized its commitment to data-driven decisions to maintain Red Line performance.
If you are a member and want us to help communicate news about your organization, please send a press release or information about the announcement to [email protected] and we will share it with our content team for possible inclusion in an upcoming roundup. Learn more about Partnership membership.