**Rice University, Lincoln Property Unveil 200,000-SF Research Facility in Houston’s Ion District**
Rice Real Estate Company, in collaboration with Lincoln Property Company, has announced plans to develop a state-of-the-art research, laboratory, and office building in Houston. The new project, named **The Arc at the Ion District**, will add nearly 200,000 square feet of flexible research and development space to the Ion District—a 16-acre innovation hub located in Houston’s Midtown and developed by Rice University.
The Arc will stand adjacent to the existing Ion building, which is now over 90% leased with a dynamic mix of corporate partners and tenants. Current occupants include major companies such as Chevron, Microsoft, Aramco, Baker Botts, ExxonMobil, Oxy, BP, Shell, United, Transocean, and Woodside Energy. The building also houses innovative startups and investors, including Persona AI and Liongard.
Rice University will serve as a lead tenant at The Arc, leasing nearly 30,000 square feet of top-tier office and lab space. The university’s focus at the site will be on groundbreaking work in areas such as energy, artificial intelligence, data science, robotics, and computational engineering.
Construction of The Arc is slated to begin in the second quarter of 2026, with completion projected in 2028.
