General Electric is slated to become the newest tenant in the Tomball Business and Technology Park as the company’s water and power distribution branch relocates to a 5.5-acre tract from The Woodlands.

Design plans for the 38,000-square-foot facility were presented during a joint Tomball Economic Development Corporation/Tomball City Council meeting on May 17. The park, located at the northwest corner of Hufsmith-Korhville and Holderrieth roads, will also be home to Canadian-based Packer Plus Energy Services and Nickson Industrial Warehouses.

TEDC Executive Director Kelly Violette said the facility will serve as a lab and office building for 75 white-collar employees, including engineers, scientists and managers. GE previously occupied a 100,000-square-foot facility on Grogans Mill Road in The Woodlands but was looking to relocate after The Woodlands Development Company bought that area of land. Violette said the company has since split company departments to occupy smaller spaces around the Greater Houston area.

“This [Tomball location] will solely be a lab and office facility, and it’s for their water processes technology division,” Violette said. “What they do is [develop] water treatment options, and they’re really big into [looking to solve] global water scarcity, so it’s a good fit for the business park.”

Violette said the city and the TEDC are still in the process of approving the final building design for the new facility before construction can begin.

“The architectural renderings are just beautiful,” she said. “It’s really exciting to have a global name like [GE] go into the park. Obviously, this is going to be huge for us.”

Just a few miles north of the business and technology park, another GE division is moving in along with Coastal Power Systems, a Houston-based power distribution company specializing in circuit breaker repair and retrofitting. The company has a strategic partnership with GE’s energy division, said CPS President Mike Davis.

“In essence, GE field service crews will go on-site and do installations and start ups of switch gears and circuit breakers, and Coastal Power Systems supports them via our shop,” Davis said. 

The company is expected to move into a 22,000-square-foot stand-alone facility on 5 acres of land at 1030 Persimmon Road in mid-to-late July.

Davis said CPS chose the location in Tomball to meet the needs of several companies and clients that have already moved to the area, including Baker Hughes and Elliot Electric Supply Inc.

“A lot of oil and gas—as well as commercial [companies]—are starting to branch out from the Houston area, and we’re doing the same,” he said. “Not to mention the commute is better because a lot of us are from that area. The Grand Parkway is another reason why we also waited [to relocate, and] now [that] that’s completed, we have a lot of avenues for our employees to get to work.”