TMC3's Collaborative Building, a 250K SF research facility for the new TMC3 campus, has topped out.

The building, the first TMC3 facility to meet that bar, will be completed in 2023. The Texas Medical Center research facility will have a 43K SF lab that will be used by MD Anderson, Texas A&M Health and UT Health Houston, with a lab as well as office and coworking space.

TMC CEO Bill McKeon sees the Collaborative Building as TMC3's cornerstone. In an interview with Bisnow, he highlighted its 7K SF first-floor atrium, which will have frequent programming open to the public.

"If you want to walk in and see a talk on genomics, you're welcomed in," McKeon said. "It's really kind of a new era. If you look at most medical centers of the past, you walk to the front door, you better have a badge, and you're not getting past the security desk.

"All of our levels of security are second floor and above. We obviously protect intellectual property, and you can't go into the wet labs without being accompanied, but the bottom floors are really for the public."

Though Houston's TMC is the world's largest medical center and hospitals in the city do plenty of life sciences research, TMC3 provides new centralized facilities for the industry. McKeon said the TMC has learned a lot from cities like Boston, which developed its life sciences presence over years as it built up to its current facilities.

TMC3's eventual parks, retail, hospitality, residential and other amenities are intended to make the district — normally only known for use by its medical workers, patients and their caretakers — a general destination, he said.

“Houston already has a place on the world stage as a leader in clinical care and life sciences," Mayor Sylvester Turner said in a release. "With the launch of the TMC3 Collaborative Building and larger TMC3 campus, we showcase why our city leads in the areas of innovation and technology.”

The Collaborative Building will also have 85K SF of labs and offices for industry partners; 14.2K SF for Texas Medical Center strategic initiatives, Braidwell, the TMC Venture Fund, and venture and equity fund partners; and a 7K SF atrium for lectures and programming.

TMC calls the building the first multi-institutional research facility in its history. Construction began in January 2021. It was designed by Elkus Manfredi Architects.

“It is extraordinary to see the TMC3 life sciences ecosystem emerging from a former parking lot to now completing the structure of the TMC3 Collaborative Building,” MD Anderson President Dr. Peter W.T. Pisters said.

“This remarkable facility will serve as a hub for the next generation of innovators who will be advancing cutting-edge research, collaborating as teams from the academic medical community and industry, and forging the next great discovery to end cancer. The opportunities are endless.”