The Houston Business Journal reviews our plans for a 122-acre mixed-use project in Pearland called The Orchard at Lower Kirby, located near Beltway 8 and Highway 288. The site includes Bass Pro Shops and surrounding land. PCD expects to close on the property within three months and begin construction within six to nine months.
The project would feature about 250,000 square feet of retail, dining, and entertainment space, plus a hotel, offices, and 1,300 to 1,400 residential units. Plans include a central park, waterfront restaurants, and a mix of traditional and village-style shopping areas. The first phase could be completed in three to five years, with full buildout taking up to a decade.
Two previous developers failed to complete projects on the site due to economic challenges and competition. PCD believes stronger population growth, job creation, and a larger residential component will improve its chances of success. The company also has early interest from tenants and has aligned its plan with the city’s development goals.
Developer reveals plans for 120-acre mixed-use community coming to Pearland
Will the third time be the charm for a potential mixed-use project in Pearland?
Sugar Land-based Planned Community Developers is the latest developer to propose a town center project on 122 acres at the southwest corner of Beltway 8 and state Highway 288. The site includes Bass Pro Shops at 1000 Bass Pro Drive and land just south of the store.
PCD has the site under contract and expects to close in the next three months, PCD President Don Janssen told the Houston Business Journal. The company is best known for developing Sugar Land’s First Colony and Town Square. It had also planned to develop the former Fluor campus into Lake Pointe, a mixed-use waterfront district — however, the city decided to go in a different direction, Janssen said. Houston-based Lovett Group is now developing Lake Pointe into a residential neighborhood. PCD previously had developed the surrounding 190 acres into Lake Pointe Town Center with townhomes, retail, restaurants, hotels and hospitals.
The Pearland City Council last month passed a first reading for a planned unit development for the 122-acre project, called The Orchard at Lower Kirby, with a final reading slated for the April 13 council meeting. Community Impact first reported on the project and City Council vote.
The preliminary plan for the project includes about 250,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and entertainment space; a hotel and conference center; office buildings; and between 1,300 and 1,400 high-end apartments, brownstone townhomes and condos.
Of the 122 acres, 93 are developable, with the remaining acreage set aside for detention. The property sits at the entrance to Pearland for those coming down Highway 288, Janssen said.
“It really is the first thing that you see coming south up Pearland, and so Pearland has a vision for this property,” he said. “What we said was, ‘OK, as we master-plan this property, first and foremost, let’s talk to the city, talk to the city leadership, and say, “If this were your piece of property to develop, what do you want it to be?”’”
PCD aims to align the project with the Pearland Prosperity Strategic Plan, he said.
The Orchard would have an approximately 150,000-square-foot traditional shopping center along Highway 288 and another 100,000 square feet of “village-style” retail with entertainment, waterfront restaurants and a central park in the center of the district between Bass Pro Shops on the north side and residential units on the south side.
“That kind of energizes and activates the project that becomes the … community gathering place, where major events in the city of Pearland on this part of town (happen),” Janssen said.
PCD already has letters of intent from retailers, restaurants, entertainment concepts and residential developers, he said. CBRE is marketing the retail.
For office, the plan is to initially build a 150,000-square-foot, six-story building and let the market dictate if more will be needed, Janssen said, adding that Pearland has no true Class A office buildings.
“We kind of dip our toe into it, being sensitive to the office market in general. … There’s not a lot of office development happening right now,” he said. “By the time we buy this property and build this building, we’re 18 months to two years in advance, and I think the market is going to want it, No. 1, but No. 2, I think the market’s going to be ready for it.”
Janssen expects to be able to break ground in six to nine months and complete the first phase of townhome and shopping center development in three to five years and the entire project in seven to 10 years.
While he couldn’t provide an estimate for the overall development cost, Janssen said it will most likely be more than $350 million, which is what Houston-based NewQuest had expected to pay for its project on the site.
Previous Developers Exited
NewQuest abandoned its version of the development in summer 2023 after about four years of planning. That project would have included three apartment complexes, a hotel with conference center, an entertainment complex, several retail pads and a boardwalk along an existing detention pond.
In the end, the economics didn’t work out for NewQuest, its president, Austin Alvis, told the HBJ last year.
Years earlier, in 2007, another company dropped plans to develop the site into a 750,000-square-foot retail center, less than three years after announcing the project. Memphis, Tennessee-based Poag & McEwen Lifestyle Centers purchased a total of 127 acres in 2005 for The Promenade Shops at The Spectrum, a $150 million project.
Poag & McEwen secured a promise of $30 million in sales tax rebate from the city of Pearland that same year with a plan to break ground in 2006. However, only the 150,000-square-foot Bass Pro Shops was built. It opened in 2007.
In an interview with the HBJ in 2008, Principal Terry McEwen blamed the company’s decision to abandon the project on the economy and competition from the development of the 1.2 million-square-foot Pearland Town Center at Beltway 8 and FM 518. The Town Center project secured some of the tenants Poag & McEwen had sought, including Macy’s and Dillard’s, according to Buchanan.
'Timing is Everything in Real Estate'
The previous failed attempts at development are reason enough to have doubts whether it will happen this time.
However, Janssen is confident the area’s population growth and the projected addition of 16,000 jobs in the Lower Kirby District by 2028 will boost PCD’s project, which also includes more on-site residential units than the other developers had planned.
“If you can create the residential base, all of a sudden, you have some 24/7 users for whatever services you provide,” Janssen said. “Now, they’re not going to make those businesses successful (on their own), but it’s a component that adds stability.”
In addition, he said, it’s the first time the landowner — previously Poag & McEwen, now named Poag Shopping Centers — plans to sell the land entirely to PCD. The landowner had partnered with previous developers on their projects, he said.
“I think we’re going to get a good deal on the property,” Janssen said. “Timing is everything in real estate. I think we just happened to be the next person up that has a plan that the city likes and they embraced, and so we got the zoning we needed, which really gave the seller the confidence that they should put the property under contract with us.”
Original Article: Why PCD thinks it will be the first to succeed in development of 122-acre mixed-use in Pearland
By: Florian Martin – Growth Editor
Date: April 8, 2026
Source: Houston Business Journal
https://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2026/04/08/pearland-beltway-288-mixed-use-development-pcd.html