Oil tech venture signs on at Ion hub

The Ion innovation hub being built inside the shell of the old Midtown Sears building finally has its first announced tenant, and it’s a familiar name in Houston.

Chevron Technology Ventures, an arm of the oiland-gas major that scouts and funds energy-related tech startups, has signed a lease for third-floor space in the Ion, designed to be the centerpiece of an innovation corridor being developed in the southern end of Midtown. Ion Interim Director Jan E. Odegard said Chevron is considered a “program partner.”

“Chevron has been a partner supporting the Houston innovation ecosystem throughout the years,” Odegard said. “They’ll have a hand in developing events and activities, as well as focusing on training Houston’s workforce for the kind of jobs that will be necessary in the future.”

Barbara Burger, Chevron Technology Ventures president, wouldn’t say how many square feet her organization has leased, only that “it’s just the right amount.”

“We will have space that is Chevron-exclusive,” Burger said. “The actual opportunity for us is not just the space that is ours, but the whole space.”

The Ion will have about 300,000 square feet when completed, and is on track for a first-quarter, 2021 completion, said Ryan LeVasseur, managing director of real estate for the Rice Management Company, the arm of Rice University that is overseeing the project. The land for the Ion was donated by Rice, and is part of a 16-acre spread.

Burger said the building and the programs developed there will be open to all Chevron employees, not just those working for Technology Ventures, with a goal toward collaborating with other individuals,

startups and larger companies.

She added that Chevron will not be “moving seats” to the Ion from its downtown headquarters building, but that employees will come and go as needed to the location.

“That’s really the ethos we expect at the Ion,” LeVasseur said. “This is not the type of building where you come in the building, close the door to your office and don’t come out until nighttime. This is going to be a place of openness and collaboration.”