PEARLAND TO CREATE BUSINESS ENTREPRENEURSHIP HUB FOR COMMUNITY

PEDC and community partners have decided to move forward with the creation of an Entrepreneurship Hub for Pearland. The Hub will enhance Pearland’s innovation entrepreneurship culture by creating events, programs activities for entrepreneurs and small business owners to inspire ideation, innovation and entrepreneurship. The Hub will connect the City to local and regional entrepreneurship assistance programs, service providers and funding sources to ensure local entrepreneurs and small businesses in Pearland connect with these resources to maximize their growth potential and overalls success. Offerings of the Hub will include business plan competitions, proactive coaching, networking events and student programs to encourage entrepreneurship.

Business Formation and & Early Stage Growth is the second focus area of the Pearland Prosperity Strategic Plan. The focus area includes strategic initiatives to ensure that Pearland’s business climate and support services are optimized for enterprise formation and growth and to establish a hub for entrepreneurship. Last year, PEDC began working with Business Cluster Development (BCD) to evaluate the feasibility of providing some type of hub for entrepreneurship in accordance with this focus area. The feasibility study determined that there is a market for an entrepreneurship hub that focuses on enhancing versus replacing the current services available to support entrepreneurs and small business owners in Pearland.

In April 2021, the PEDC Board of Directors, after reviewing the proposed Hub’s business model and consulting with steering committee established to advise the feasibility study, along with the Pearland Prosperity Implementation Committee and Chamber Board of Directors, voted to move forward with the creation of the Entrepreneurship Hub. In the coming months, PEDC will conduct a search for the proposed Hub executive director (Navigator), begin to develop operational policies, and create an advisory board to oversee activities. In addition, a startup and operating budget will be developed and approved by the PEDC Board. In the short term (1-2 years), the Hub will be run through the Corporation, but eventually will transition to its own non-profit corporation with a contract agreement with PEDC.

For more information on the Hub please reach out to Brian Malone with PEDC at (281) 997-3005 or bmalone@pearlandedc.com.

PEDC RELEASES 2020 ANNUAL REPORT

Each year, PEDC produces an annual report – this report summarizes the activities the corporation has undertaken over the past year and provides a glimpse into our continued efforts to shape our community’s future and ensure Pearland remains a community of choice in greater Houston.

In 2020, the Pearland Economic Development Corporation (PEDC) celebrated 25 years of serving the Pearland community. To celebrate this milestone anniversary, we created a 25th anniversary report that summarizes the activities the corporation has undertaken over the past twenty-five years, including the $1 billion in capital investment PEDC has attracted to the community. You can view this report here.

Other highlights from this year’s report include welcoming new employers Endress+Hauser, Interim Healthcare, and HCA’s new clinical training facility to the community and partnering with Code Ninjas, Lonza, and other local employers with expansions. Early 2020 saw the approval of our new Pearland Prosperity Strategic Plan and PEDC worked with community partners throughout the year to make progress on many of the plan’s focus areas.

When COVID-19 began to impact our community, PEDC worked to not only communicate information on resources that were available to local businesses, but also partnered with the city to use $857,000 in CARES Act funding for grants to small businesses.

As we look toward 2021 and beyond, PEDC will continue to position Pearland as a dynamic job center, recruiting primary employers that bring new wealth into our community while continuing to support our local-serving business sectors. We will continue to enhance mobility, beautification, and redevelopment to secure high-value job growth and ensure Pearland’s success in the decades to come.

HCA HOUSTON HEALTHCARE’S CENTER FOR CLINICAL ADVACEMENT NEARING COMPLETION

Construction is progressing on HCA Houston Healthcare’s Center for Clinical Advancement located in Pearland Town Center. The PEDC and city officials began recruitment efforts for this project with HCA Houston Healthcare and CBL & Associates in 2018. The 48,400 square-foot, state-of-the-art training center, is expected to open this summer and will house high-fidelity hospital simulation labs, connected classrooms and de-briefing rooms, where the health system’s nearly 7,000 nurses will receive ongoing clinical education and training. 

PROGRESS CONTINUES ON NEW PEARLAND SHADOW CREEK LIBRARY

 

Construction started late last year on a new library on the west side of Pearland. The 39,000 square-foot County library, located on Shadow Creek Parkway just west of Kirby, will replace the temporary location on Business Center Drive and is estimated to open in late 2021.

BROADWAY CORRIDOR RECONSTRUCTION UPDATE
       
PEDC and the City continue to hold monthly meetings with TxDOT and its design consultants for the FM 518/Broadway widening in an effort to ensure that local priorities are included in the project, such as mitigation right of way needed from business and drainage impacts, pedestrian and bicycle facilities, aesthetic considerations, and overall quality of design in keeping with Pearland’s high development standards. TxDOT has begun right of way acquisition for the first phase from SH 288 to Cullen Boulevard. A public meeting will be held possibly later this year on finalizing the schematics with the proposed alignment for the phase II segment from Cullen to McLean. The first phase has funds for construction which is expected to begin in 2025 and the second phase is currently not funded for construction.