Ryan McCord is riding high after Eli Lilly selected a site in Houston that he and his late father, Rick, spent more than a decade developing into a sought-after life sciences district, making it fertile ground for the pharmaceutical giant's proposed $6.5 billion, state-of-the-art manufacturing campus.
McCord, president of Houston-based McCord Development, told CoStar News his team sold a 236-acre portion of that land to Lilly last month in Generation Park, a 4,300-acre, master-planned campus about 21 miles northeast of downtown Houston, in a deal announced earlier this month. Lilly picked the location after looking at more than 300 potential sites throughout 40 U.S. states. Now McCord Development is getting the land ready to accommodate the high-power capacity and water needs for Lilly to produce a key component in the drugmaker's new weight-loss medication.
The unveiling of the 1 million-square-foot project concludes what has been a two-year process for McCord and his team to land Lilly.
"We worked on this for two years, and it was exactly what we imagined more than a decade ago," McCord told CoStar News. "My father died of cancer in 2015 after a year-and-a-half battle. He started to do some research into therapy developments, trying to understand the hold-up in treatment while he was suffering, and we were introduced to the pharmaceutical industry. Houston's workforce is very well-suited to this sector of the economy."
To see his father's legacy live on, through projects like Lilly, is not only satisfying, but McCord said as a landlord, he's able to do a small part in helping find a hope for other families seeking the latest in medical care. The executive has been so drawn to the sector that he's traveled to the top life science hub of Boston to better educate himself on how a landlord can play a role in this space.
Generation Park has been purpose-built for biotech and pharmaceutical companies with large-scale manufacturing capabilities and is anchored by partnerships with San Jacinto College and the National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training.
"This is an industry that continues to grow and create therapies that benefit families," he added. "And it's driven by scientists who have dedicated their careers to finding solutions. It's humbling to play a role in helping a company do things, like improving other people's lives."
The campus also includes hundreds of apartments at the Redemption Square mixed-use development, as well as restaurants, retail, offices and industrial space, and a 6-acre surf park is expected to open later this year.
McCord said he expects Lilly's manufacturing hub to be a "catalyst for more apartments across all wage scales in Generation Park."
Lilly chose Houston for what it is calling the largest manufacturing plant of its kind in the United States after landing $5.5 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund as well as approval for more incentives through the state’s Jobs, Energy, Technology and Innovation Act.
Terms of the land sale were undisclosed. While Lilly's site has yet to receive an address, officials said the tract is located at the northeast corner of North Lake Houston Parkway and Timber Forest Drive.
Along with Lilly, McCord said, Generation Park is also housing a project under construction by Maryland biotechnology company United Therapeutics, and he's in "talks with others" in the life sciences sector. He declined to share more details of what firms are looking at Generation Park.
"There's been a series of catalyst projects, but Lilly, in particular, has been a significant investment and given the region confidence from a major global player," he added.
Lilly is onshoring its U.S. industrial development after the Trump administration said it would place tariffs on pharmaceuticals and other goods.
McCord had dinner this month with one of Lilly's heads of real estate who said the company picked Generation Park because "everything was there," he said, "from a hotel to restaurants, to apartments and all the infrastructure. They see everything they need for employees to thrive and their operation to be successful."
Houston ranked as one of the nation's top 10 markets for the life sciences industry, according to CBRE's 2025 U.S. Life Sciences Talent Trends report that was released in June. The Bayou City was noted as a job market with lower wages in more occupations compared to the major life sciences hubs of Boston and the San Francisco Bay Area, the report said.
Houston's significant presence of chemical companies means there's in-demand chemical technicians sought after by life sciences firms, according to the CBRE report. Houston's Texas Medical Center, located about 22 miles southwest of Generation Park, is touted by the city as the world's largest life sciences destination, with over 160,000 visitors a day.
Lilly plans to employ 615 workers such as engineers, scientists and lab technicians with an average annual salary of more than $100,000 at the Houston campus, which is expected to make the company's first oral medication for treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes, called orforglipron. The campus is expected to be up and running in the next five years.
Lilly's investment "will be a catalyst for significant infrastructure development where peers in the industry and companies evaluating similar large-scale developments" look at Houston, McCord added. "It creates a significant pipeline of interest from companies that are considering significant investments in the United States, who are evaluating Houston and Generation Park. It will be a real catalyst for imminent decisions."