A new home for Houston startups is out to help teach one of Houston’s oldest office buildings some new tricks.
Invincible, founded by Houston native and entrepreneur Jesse Martinez, launched on May 1, offering coworking and event spaces for local startups in the Esperson office complex at 808 Travis St. Martinez told the Houston Business Journal that the goal is to boost Houston’s technology scene by combining it with events and culture.
“Invincible is an inspired space with founders, innovators, changemakers and creators that intersect with tech, community and culture,” Martinez said.
Startups will be able to rent desks or benches at Invincible's flex space, similar to other coworking concepts in the Houston area, such as Common Desk.
Houston-based Cameron Management, which bought the Esperson complex from Seligman Enterprises Ltd. in 2012, could not disclose how much square footage in the building would be available to startups. In a statement, Cameron told the HBJ that availability will depend on supply and demand.
The buildings will continue to retain traditional office tenants in addition to the startups moving to Invincible. The complex has a total of 599,000 square feet of space, according to previous HBJ reporting.
The complex’s turn to startup tenants, which require less space than a conventional office, is a strategy to bring life to an area of Houston’s downtown, which is still not fully recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic. Martinez highlighted the proximity of the Esperson complex to other potential downtown attractions as well as banks and legal resources that growing companies could tap into.
The partnership between Martinez and Cameron began at the end of 2023 through a connection made by Staci LaToison, a Houston-based investor and the host of the podcast "Her Money Moves."
At the time, Martinez had been helping startups find space at the Ion, an incubator in Houston’s Midtown on land owned by Rice University. With Invincible, he wanted to bring a community that was more focused on technology.
“With us, it’s all about the flex space,” Martinez said. “There isn’t a mix of businesses, nonprofits; it’s all pure technology.”
Martinez said one potential vision for Invincible is to have floors in the complex for specific verticals of technology, such as sports technology and health technology that are prominent in Houston.
In addition to Houston startups, Martinez wants to bring companies from other parts of Texas and the U.S. He also highlighted potential referrals from around the world, especially in Mexico, Canada and other parts of Latin America. In 2022, Martinez founded the Houston-based nonprofit LSA Global to support tech ecosystems for Latinx entrepreneurs.
“We will invite traditional startup ecosystem partners to join our community in helping to support and champion our founders and startups,” Martinez said. “In addition, we will also work with and support any corporates looking to work with our startups as innovation partners.”
Several spaces at the Esperson complex are also under development to accommodate the new tenants. A restaurant space on the ground floor that once housed Havana Latin Grill and Bar will be repurposed into a kitchen and event space, Cameron said. Terraces on the higher floors also will be open for events.
One company that has already made the jump to Invincible is Blue People, which had relocated to the Ion after being founded in Mexico in 2015. Blue People confirmed its relocation to the Mellie Esperson Building last month along with the hiring of its first Chief AI Officer, Luis Arregoces.
Meanwhile, other startup-focused organizations are eyeing the Invincible space. Energy Tech Nexus, an organization co-founded by ex-Greentown Labs Houston leaders Jason Ethier and Juliana Garaizar, has office space in the Esperson complex. Ethier declined to comment further on any developments on Energy Tech Nexus’ part.
The Esperson complex consists of two towers, among the most recognizable on the city’s skyline. The 27-story Neils Esperson Building was built in 1927 and is known for being the only complete example of Italian Renaissance-style architecture in downtown Houston.
Meanwhile, the 19-story Mellie Esperson tower was built in 1941, serving as an annex to the Niels building. However, it features an art deco design.
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