University of Houston Medical Research Building, Houston

The University of Houston Medical Research Building broke ground in mid-October 2026, the second building on the school’s new medical campus and a $77.5 million bet that UH can turn a young medical college into a research operation. SmithGroup designed the roughly 57,000-square-foot building at 5150 Medical Service Drive, directly behind the Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine. It’s slated to open in 2028.

Harvey-Cleary is the general contractor, according to a June report in the Houston Business Journal.

Project Scope

The program is a mix of wet and dry research. The building holds wet labs, computational research space, clinical trial space and specialized clinical research suites, plus a virtual reality behavioral health suite that uses immersive sound and imagery to deliver care. It’s planned as shared space for the College of Medicine and other UH colleges, with terraces and common areas meant to push researchers into the same rooms.

UH’s own capital project sheet carried the building at 70,000 gross square feet, with a $58.1 million construction cost inside the $77.5 million total. Later reports put it at 55,000 to 57,000 square feet. That’s a meaningful cut, and it suggests the program was trimmed to hold the budget.

It also slipped. The same sheet showed a fall 2025 groundbreaking and fall 2027 substantial completion. Both moved about a year.

Why It Matters

The Fertitta college opened its building in 2022 with a primary-care mission. A medical school without research space can’t compete for NIH money or faculty, and this building is UH’s first real answer to that.

It also sits inside a larger push. UH launched UH Health, a cross-disciplinary venture, in summer 2026 and plans to seek Health Science Center designation from the Texas Legislature. A second research hub, a joint project with DHR Health, broke ground in McAllen in April.

For Houston builders, a 57,000-square-foot lab building isn’t huge by Texas Medical Center standards. But lab-heavy academic space at about $1,360 a square foot all-in is the kind of work where MEP subs make the job, and the university is clearly building a pipeline.

Project Team & Details