The stretch of State Highway 35 running through Pearland is quietly turning into the city’s industrial backbone, with more than 600,000 square feet of warehouses and flex space rolling into place from McHard Road down toward Knapp Road. On the ground, that means a lineup of business parks and light-industrial projects, from big tilt-wall campuses to smaller multi-tenant bays aimed squarely at local operators.
Projects Add Up To More Than 600,000 Square Feet
As reported by Houston Business Journal, the current SH 35 pipeline includes Edge Industrial Park from Stewart Development, a Hanover project planned at Knapp and SH 35, and the multi-building 1613 Main Business Park. Taken together, they top roughly 600,000 square feet of industrial and flex product. The mix runs from large two-building campus layouts to 6,000- to 17,000-square-foot bays carved up for smaller tenants.
Edge Industrial Park Delivers Modern Small-Bay Product
The 36-acre Edge Industrial Park at the southwest corner of SH 35 and McHard is being developed by Stewart Development, and Pearland’s FY26 materials list roughly 240,200 square feet at the site as under construction. City of Pearland presentations and local reports describe Edge as a speculative tilt-wall industrial park with multiple crane-ready buildings geared to light manufacturing and distribution users.
Bisnow and project representatives say individual buildings will generally run from about 20,000 to 34,000 square feet, a size band aimed at capturing the wave of small and mid-size tenants looking for modern space in the South Beltway area.
Hanover’s Knapp Road Plan Clears Hurdles With Conditions
On the south end of the corridor, a separate Hanover proposal on roughly 22 acres near Knapp Road is lined up to add about 300,000 square feet across two flex buildings. The rezoning brought out extensive public comment before it was ultimately approved with conditions, according to Houston Business Journal.
City Council records show that approval came with a key requirement: a development agreement to reconstruct Knapp Road within 90 days. Staff materials estimate an 18-month design and construction timeline for that work. Hanover’s plan is being marketed as a two-building flex campus that city staff say will deepen Pearland’s industrial inventory and give the SH 35 corridor a more fully built-out feel.
1613 Main Caters To Smaller Operators
Unlike the speculative complexes still rising out of the dirt, 1613 Main Business Park is already in place and aimed squarely at smaller local firms. Property listings show 10 buildings totaling about 124,000 square feet, with individual units generally running from roughly 6,000 to 17,000 square feet. LoopNet and Pearland planning materials list the park as available space for industrial and light-manufacturing tenants that want to stay close to home without settling for aging product.
Why Developers Are Betting On Pearland
Pearland did not stumble into this wave of warehouse building by accident. The city kicked off a multi-phase State Highway 35 redevelopment strategy in 2015 and backed it with public improvements, including a $6.2 million streetscape project finished in 2019, to make the corridor more attractive to private investment, according to the Pearland Economic Development Corporation.
Layer on top of that Pearland’s proximity to Beltway 8, William P. Hobby Airport and the Port of Houston, and the pitch to industrial users starts to sound pretty compelling. Local coverage also highlights the suburb’s strong livability scores in national rankings, which do not hurt when companies are recruiting workers. The Houston Chronicle has detailed how those rankings play into investor interest.
Put together, the speculative projects, Hanover’s planned campus and the small-bay space at 1613 Main significantly expand Pearland’s industrial footprint. City officials say the momentum should translate into new jobs, a broader tax base and more options for manufacturers and distributors that want to plant a flag in the area. With some buildings already up and running at 1613 Main and Edge showing heavy activity, the SH 35 corridor’s next chapter is expected to unfold over the next 18 months as the rest of the pipeline comes out of the ground.
