Rise to the Top: Claudia Aguirre with BakerRipley

The Greater Houston Partnership celebrates our members making important announcements and sharing news about their operations and impact in our community. Learn more about some of those announcements over the last months below. Business Moves BP partners with Australia-based Worley to collaborate deeper with the company's assets in the U.S. and other regions, focusing on engineering, procurement, construction development and management segments. CLEAR expands enrollment and renewal options by opening seven new locations, including locations in Houston's William P. Hobby International Airport and George Bush Intercontinental Airport. CLEAR now has 20 TSA PreCheck enrollment locations open across the U.S. Enterprise Products Partners LP expects a final investment decision for a major offshore terminal project. Enterprise Products Partners LP received its deepwater port license from the United States Maritime Administration in April. It was the most significant milestone so far in developing the project, according to the company. Equinor has agreed to an acquisition with Canada-based Standard Lithium Ltd. in two lithium project companies in Southwest Arkansas and East Texas, supporting core competencies like subsurface and project execution capabilities. Exxon Mobil closes its $59.5 billion acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources Co. According to Wall Street Journal, it's Exxon's largest deal since acquiring Mobil in 1999. Kids’ Meals breaks ground on a new 50,000-square-foot facility in Spring Branch. The new space will nearly triple the size of its current headquarters. Legacy Community Health has begun construction on its two-story, 40,000 square feet Legacy Pasadena Southmore Clinic. The new clinic is one of two planned for the Houston area with a generous $50 million gift from Houston Methodist, the largest gift in Legacy's history. Memorial Hermann Medical Group expands into New Caney with a new $10 million facility. The site will provide a range of primary care services, including routine and preventative care. PV Hardware USA opens a new component solar manufacturing facility in Fort Bend County. Rice University partners with Université Paris Sciences & Lettres to research contemporary pressing subject matters such as energy and climate; quantum computing and artificial intelligence; global health and medicine; and urban futures. Education Houston Christian University approves a $60 million budget science, engineering and nursing complex. Construction on the Sherry and Jim Smith Engineering, Science and Nursing Complex is set to begin January 2025 and by the fall 2026 semester. Lone Star College approves a $41.7 million expansion project. Lone Star College-Houston North Victory and Lone Star College-Magnolia are projected to be substantially complete by summer 2025. Rice University breaks ground on a new $54.5 million building for the Jones Graduate School of Business. The new 112,000-square-foot building will have state-of-the-art classrooms, modern office spaces, open gathering areas, dining areas and facilities for private events. Health Care Harris Health System breaks ground on a new, $1.6 billion, Level 1 trauma-capable hospital at the Harris Health Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital campus. The 12-story, 1.3 million-square-foot hospital with a rooftop helipad will have 390 private patient rooms with the potential to expand to 450. It aims to provide quality and urgent health care to the underserved and under-resourced communities of northeast Harris County. HCA Houston Healthcare Kingwood opens the hospital's new $27 million outpatient surgery department. The facility is designed to accommodate a variety of surgical procedures that do not require an overnight hospital stay. Houston Methodist Cypress Hospital opens four new services just under a year before the hospital is set to hold its grand opening in the first quarter of 2025. Services include cancer, infusion, and breast care services, along with the recent opening of physical therapy and rehabilitation programs. MD Anderson commences a new 12 floor building, spanning 757,000 square feet, in the Texas Medical Center with Chicago-based Perkins&Will as the architect. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Rice University partner for the Cancer Bioengineering Collaborative, concentrating on five areas of research including nanotechnologies and leukemia immunotherapies. Texas Medical Center Accelerator joins Texas-Denmark BioBridge to drive Danish technologies to the American market. For the second year, the Texas Medical Center Innovation and BioInnovation Institute have collaborated to accelerate many Danish companies. Waste Management aims to acquire Illinois-based medical waste company Stericycle Inc. for $7.2 billion. The acquisition will provide regulated medical waste and compliance services as well as secure information-destruction services. Energy Transition A methodology developed by renewable energy pioneer and Energy Committee Member Drax has been validated by DNV, an organization which delivers world-renowned testing, certification and technical advisory services to the energy sector. The new methodology highlights net carbon dioxide removals delivered using bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS). ExxonMobil has announced a new pilot program and deployed 10 new all-electric pickup trucks to the Permian Basin, which accounts for nearly half of ExxonMobil's total U.S. oil production. Honeywell partners with Weatherford International Ltd. to combine Honeywell's emissions management suite with Weatherford's technology to upstream oil and gas operators a way to access emissions data in near real-time, make business decisions on potential issues and meet regulatory requirements. Innovation BP donates $200,000 to Houston Community College to help develop an electric vehicles safety and mechanical training course. Halliburton introduces a new technology that is designed specifically for geothermal energy applications. The inlet design minimizes power consumption, protects the pump against solids, and tackles scale formation. Honeywell launches the Battery Manufacturing Excellence Platform, or Battery MXP, an artificial intelligence-powered software solution that will improve battery cell yields. Rice University launches its Synthesis X Center to foster the growth of cancer technologies and medications. SynthX and Baylor College of Medicine’s Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center have announced joint awards of grants to promising teams. The University of Houston has been selected to join a $10 million effort to advance biopharmaceutical manufacturing and engineering, developing a mix-and-read antibody measurement system that uses fluorescent materials to determine the amount of antibody present in a sample. Transportation Port of Houston Authority appoints Port Commissioner Thomas Jones, Jr., embarking on a two-year term. Southwest Airlines introduces a 155,000-square-foot facility project at William P. Hobby International Airport, which will include a larger warehouse for its provisioning team, expanded cargo facilities, more space for the company’s ground support equipment maintenance teams and additional training spaces. Sugar Land City Council approves a $3.2 million construction contract to widen University Boulevard and alleviate traffic. 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 member.engagement@houston.org and we will share it with our content team for possible inclusion in an upcoming roundup. Learn more about Partnership membership.