Renewing Pearland Old Town From the cover
The big picture
Old Town Pearland revitalization plan
NOTE: THERE IS CURRENTLY NO TIMELINE FOR THESE PROJECTS.
Project 1
Project 2
Project 3
Project 4
Project 5
Welcome center, event space, business and community hub, train depot, pedestrian overpass
Roadway reconstruction on Grand Boulevard; adding a festival street, parking street and landscaped median
Mixed-used development, playground, pickleball courts, and a trail linking Walnut Street to Broadway Street
Upgrading Broadway Street with widened sidewalks, a raised intersection, underground utilities and enhanced drainage
Restaurant and entertainment venue with a stage and lawn, food truck park and a neighborhood pocket park
For years, Pearland Mayor Kevin Cole said residents have wanted to see change and upgrades in Pearland Old Town, which is where the city was originally incorporated. Pearland’s ongoing Old Town Revitalization Plan could do that through planning, ongoing residential feedback and an economic assessment, according to the revitalization plan’s website. City officials held a final open house March 11 and closed the plan’s survey in early April. The next step is to finalize the plan and prepare it to go in front of City Council. The project plan launched in June 2024 and is a collaboration between the Pearland Economic Development Corporation, the city of Pearland and Kansas City-based Olsson Studio, a national planning and urban design firm, according to the city’s website. The plan includes the following Old Town Pearland additions: • Single-unit, multi-unit and flex residential businesses • Business, neighborhood and civic centers • Mixed-use and transitional developments Officials said the area has long been without a plan and has businesses, homes, new and old buildings, and infrastructure in need of updates.
Residential
Single unit Multiunit Flex
ORANGE ST,
1
2
Centers
Business Neighborhood Civic
Corridors
Community mixed-use Community transitional Local Main Street
Other
Park
4
SOURCE: OLSSON/ COMMUNITY IMPACT
5
3
4
WALNUT ST.
N
The history
Zooming in
Initially platted in 1894, the Old Town district was Pearland’s first settled area. It included a hardware store, a general store, a lumber yard and a hotel, attracting migrants from Midwestern states to settle in Pearland, according to the city’s website. However, the 1900 Galveston hurricane and another storm in 1915 caused the area’s infrastruc- ture, farming and population to falter. It wasn’t until the 1940s the area grew back into what it was prior to the storms, city documents show. By 1959, the city was incorporated and began a steady growth outward for land and population, and in the mid-1960s had nearly 1,500 inhabitants and 41 businesses, according to the city’s website. Today, Old Town is filled with residential areas, businesses, and Pearland ISD offices and schools. Despite the area’s history, lifelong Pearland resident Jerry Johnston said he believes Old Town Pearland doesn’t provide an “old town” feel. “My family has been here seven generations,” he
Unrelated to the revitalization plan, Cole said a 5.9-acre residential project has been in devel- opment since spring 2023 in Old Town south of Broadway Street and east of Main Street. The city also agreed upon a $4.5 million development in late 2022 with Sullivan Brothers to improve public roads, water, storm and sanitary lines, and streetscapes within the site before the homes would be built, per the PEDC’s website. Brennan Kane, the project planner for Olsson, said the revitalization plan for Old Town will be much like the ongoing development.
Population and households in Old Town Pearland
Population
Homes
1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000
0 500
2010
2025
2035*
*PROJECTED
SOURCE: OLSSON/COMMUNITY IMPACT
Key 2024-25 dates
Aug. 7-Oct. 4, 2024: Online public survey launched and available Oct. 1-3: Planning and design workshop Oct. 2: Public open house March 10: Joint leadership work session March 11: Public open house
said. “Personally I don’t see a quaint ‘Old Town’ anymore. [FM] 518 and [Hwy.] 35 are wall-to- wall businesses. We have been through a few of these ‘project’ ideas over the years, and they never happen. So I, for one, am not too excited.”
SOURCE: OLSSON/COMMUNITY IMPACT
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COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
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