Generation Park Makes Pitch For Amazon’s Planned HQ2

HUMBLE, TX — One of Houston’s newest and most exciting master-planned hubs is setting its sights on reeling in Amazon as the new site for hits HQ2.

Ryan McCord, president of McCord Development, which owns Generation Park, and Mark S. Mitchell, president of the Lake Houston Economic Partnership, have each sent letters asking Amazon to consider Generation Park.

In his letter dated Oct. 18, McCord extended a personal invitation to Amazon executives to visit Generation Park and see for themselves what the area has to offer.

By the same token, Mitchell’s letter praised the geographic location of Generation Park as an ideal business location.

“Generation Park's location provides a geographic advantage that is simply not available anywhere else in the state of Texas,” Mitchell said in his letter dated Oct. 12. “If Generation Park is identified as a viable site for Amazon HQ2, the developer, county and state will aggressively pursue incentive options to make the project a reality for Amazon and the Lake Houston community.”

Generation Park, a sprawling 4,000 acre property in northeast Houston that is home to TechnipFMC, which opened its 173 acre campus last year, is now pitching its amenities of transportation and mobility ease between the Houston Ship Channel and other key points to Amazon officials.

According to Amazon’s website, the media giant plans to invest $5 billion in the new HQ2 facility, making it Amazon’s second largest headquarters in North America, and providing 50,000 well-paying jobs to the area.

From Amazon’s perspective, the new HQ2 would create tens of thousands of additional jobs and tens of billions of dollars in additional investment in the surrounding community.

Such an infusion to the northeast area of Houston — an area long ignored by business leaders until the emergence of Generation Park in recent years — could shift the focus of growth geographically from the Energy Corridor and northwest areas of Houston for the first time in decades.

RELATED: McCord Development Expects Move To Generation Park In Late August

Business leaders who see potential of Amazon’s move to the Houston area have already made their pitch.

While the pitch is being made to Amazon, Generation Park is in the midst of continual growth with the additions of campus facilities for San Jacinto College and Lone Star College, as well as the headquarters building for McCord Development at 250 Assay St., and an apartment complex across the street, and a hotel just a few hundred feet from the headquarters building.

Despite the anticipation of any potential landing spot, it may be some time before any official announcement is made from Amazon.

The company has received 238 proposals from areas within the continental U.S., as well as other U.S. territories who’ve expressed an interest in Amazon’s presence in their community.

Image: Artist rendering of 250 Assay St., the headquarters building for Generation Park and McCord Development. (Courtesy Integrate Agency)

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