Groundbreaking of Neighborhood Centers Economic Development Project

Page and fellow project team member firms just celebrated the groundbreaking of the East Aldine Economic Opportunity Center (EAEOC). This center is being developed by Houston nonprofit Neighborhood Centers, now known as BakerRipley, which strives to improve the lives of low-income families and individuals in the Greater Houston area by emphasizing educational opportunities and community engagement.

The 38,000-sf, on a 62-acre development within the East Aldine Town Center will provide workforce training in a northeast Houston community where half the adults lack a high school education. The center will be affiliated in part with Lone Star Community College, one of the fastest-growing systems in the U.S. The Harris County Sheriff's Office also plans to open a call center there which will provide opportunities for employment.

Page worked closely with Neighborhood Centers and participated in multiple community sessions to establish programming that would best suit the needs of the primarily Spanish-speaking residents. From the input received at these sessions, the final design was born.

The campus will consist of three buildings, each of which will support the mission of learning, making and selling with different types of spaces. The East building will have a social enterprise café and commercial kitchen incubator, and a makerspace, including a high-tech fabricator lab. The West building is designed for workforce training classrooms and clinic spaces. The North building will serve as a welcome center, which will house financial services, offices and co-working spaces for small start-up businesses and flexible retail square footage. 

Other firms on the project team include M Engineering & Construction, LLC, WG Anderson Engineering, 4B Technology Group and Halford Busby Construction Consultants. 

The project has received public support from elected officials and media attention from news outlets ranging from the Houston Chronicle to the New York Times. To see additional coverage of the project, click here.