A Chinese biotechnology company has moved into its laboratory and office space at Levit Green, making it the first tenant to call a new life science campus near the Texas Medical Center in Houston home.

Beijing, China-based Sino Biological Inc. signed a 10,000-square-foot lease at Building 1 in Levit Green last year for its first U.S. manufacturing location. Levit Green’s developers — Hines, 2ML Real Estate Interests and Harrison Street — have started construction on the second building at the 53-acre life science campus that is expected to eventually have 4 million square feet of office and laboratory space across nine buildings.

Levit Green aims to woo researchers and scientists with a design that includes open-floor plans, glass exteriors and a plethora of amenities, Hines Senior Managing Director John Mooz told CoStar News on a recent tour of the property.

Levit Green's first phase included Building 1, a five-floor structure at 3131 Holcombe Blvd. with 296,000 square feet of office and commercial lab space, including 25,000 square feet of incubator and lab space already built out and furnished and waiting for tenants. Phase one also included a one-acre lake with space along the waterfront for meetings, a fitness center and outdoor garden, a 7,000-square-foot conference center, 3,500 square feet of café and restaurant space, bicycle storage and hiking trails.

Architecture firms are changing how offices for life science tenants are designed as the line between the lab and the office is blurred. More office workers are getting a direct view of experiments conducted on lab tables in an industry that once kept scientists behind closed and locked doors and away from the sales and marketing staff.

New lab-office hybrid developments are in the works in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago and other markets, often at an added cost to traditional set-ups.

Levit Green, which is being built less than three miles south of downtown Houston, is expected to fill a void in the market as a laboratory-based campus focused on life science research, said Mooz with Hines. Building 2 is being built across the street from Building 1, and the two buildings are expected to be similar.

Levit Green is being built on the former home of Grocers Supply Co., which was one of the country's largest wholesale grocery suppliers when it sold the business in 2014. Grocers Supply was founded by the Levit family, hence Levit Green's name, and the family is also behind 2ML Real Estate Interests, one of Levit Green's developers. Hines broke ground on Levit Green in 2021.

Levit Green’s Building 1 was designed by architectural firm HOK, while Harvey Builders was the project’s general contractor. JLL is in charge of leasing.