Alex Pearlstein

Alex Pearlstein has long been active in economic development, both as a professional and a student and fan of cities large and small.  While at Market Street, he has managed economic, community, workforce and organizational development projects in 14 states.  Currently, he is project manager for strategic planning processes in Nashville, Tennessee and Springfield, Missouri. During his time at Market Street, he also managed similar processes for the Coachella Valley, California; Mandan, North Dakota; Palm Beach County, Florida; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Greater Austin, Texas; Albany-Dougherty County, Georgia; Rome-Floyd County, Georgia; Gwinnett County, Georgia; and Memphis-Shelby County, Tennessee.  As Director of Projects, he serves as an advisor on all of Market Street’s active projects.     

Mr. Pearlstein’s other recent past projects at Market Street include managing an Operational Mission Review for the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance in Virginia; a Target Business Analysis for Round Rock, Texas; community visioning processes in Dothan, Alabama and Hopkinsville, Kentucky; and economic development strategy creation processes for Greater Waco, Texas and the City of Arlington, Texas.  He was Market Street’s managing representative on a team developing a Regional Growth Management Plan for the Columbus region in Georgia in advance of growth at the Fort Benning military base. He has also managed a workforce development strategic process for the nine-county region of Coastal Georgia and an organizational development process for the 10-county Upstate Alliance region in South Carolina.  

Prior to joining Market Street in 2003, Mr. Pearlstein was an associate at Central Atlanta Progress, Inc. (CAP), a downtown Atlanta planning and development organization.  While at CAP, Mr. Pearlstein assisted with district rezoning and wayfinding projects, numerous transportation initiatives, and was lead writer on CAP’s successful funding application to redevelop a key transportation corridor in the central city.   

While a Master’s student, Mr. Pearlstein was lead researcher and contributing writer on Dr. Nancey Green Leigh’s Brookings Institution study, “The State Role in Urban Land Redevelopment,” and conducted stakeholder input for Dr. Leigh’s report on bioprocess manufacturing workforce training.  Previously, Mr. Pearlstein served as downtown bureau chief for a Long Beach, California newspaper covering numerous large-scale downtown redevelopment projects.  

Mr. Pearlstein has been a presenter at the Basic Economic Development Course at the University of Arkansas. He holds a Master’s degree in City and Regional Planning with a specialization in Economic Development from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a Bachelor’s degree in Communications from the University of California, San Diego.