Bionova’s $56M project gets tax deal
County approves 7-year abatement for The Woodlands site
Montgomery County commissioners approved a tax abatement agreement with California-based Bionova Scientific for the company’s $56 million expansion in The Woodlands.
According to the agreement, Aventus Development LLC is purchasing the property in The Woodlands to build a 100,000-square-foot manufacturing and research facility in the 2600 block of Research Forest Drive to be leased by Bionova.
The facility is expected to be completed in late 2026.
The seven-year agreement will abate property taxes 100% from 2026 to 2029. That percentage will drop to 80% in 2030, 60% in 2031, and 40% in 2032.
The project will add 57 fulltime positions with a combined payroll of $7.4 million. The agreement states that the company will be at full staff by 2030.
The agreement comes after
Howard Hughes announced the creation of The Woodlands Innovation District.
The district is a reimagining of what has been known as The Research Forest, which was first pitched as a future life sciences hub in the 1980s by George Mitchell.
“The Woodlands Township is supportive of economic development that positively impacts our area, including the most recent efforts to bring biotechnology to our community,” said Ann Snyder, chair of The Woodlands Township Board of Directors. “Providing a home for these research
and development companies was part of Mr. Mitchell’s vision for The Woodlands.”
Developer Howard Hughes is accelerating growth in the district through a partnership with Vitrian, which builds biomanufacturing facilities across the country.
Howard Hughes and Vitrian have tapped five potential sites totaling 83 acres for development.
Each plot has the capacity to host at least one multinational company with multiple production lines, office space, manufacturing areas and warehouse space all under one roof, Vitrian co-founder Scott Nudelman said in a previous article.
Biomanufacturing boom
Nudelman said approximately $400 million in biomanufacturing facility investments have been made in The Woodlands and Conroe area.
Facilities could range from 40,000 to more than 200,000 square feet per site. The total square footage could be 1 million
square feet and host hundreds of jobs across income levels.
Facilities have expanded since Cellipont, a cell therapy manufacturer, transformed the former office space into a new 76,000-square-foot headquarters in the nearby Research Forest Lakeside development in March.
A new $118 million life science hub anchored by cancerfighting biopharmaceutical company Nurix is also in the works nearby.
The hub is backed by Alexandria Real Estate, which aims to create a cluster of life sciences firms it hopes could become a smaller alternative to Texas Medical Center.
Nudelman said the two areas will continue to be vital to Houston’s fight against cancer.
“Houston is literally the hub for advanced therapies to treat cancer … (and) the two biggest hubs are The Woodlands and the (Texas) Medical Center,” Nudelman said. “There’s more advanced manufacturing for cell therapy going on in Houston than anywhere else.”