A couple of drive-by shots from Clinton Dr. show the state of demolition at the former Kellogg, Brown and Root campus, part of the effort to transform it into the new shopping, eating, working, and living complex that developer Midway has dubbed East River. Since beginning Friday, the teardown work has targeted the pair of warehouse buildings at the west end of the site, where their truck-docking holes front Jensen Dr. The 2 structures are the sole remnants of a much larger warehouse complex that once sat within the bounds of the 136-acre bayou-side site. Most of those industrial buildings were demolished between 2011 and 2012, leaving a swath of open space in the middle of the property — between the complex of office buildings that borders Hirsch Rd. to the east and the warehouses that now look to be goners.
In between those 2 bookends, a new black tarp has been added to portions of the construction fence along Clinton Dr., reports a reader. That’s where a multi-block colony of townhomes is planned; they’re shown in yellow on the map Midway put out over the summer:
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The thin strip of green indicated at the south edge of the site — a proposed extension of Buffalo Bayou’s north bank trail — is now locked into place: Anne Olsen of the Buffalo Bayou Partnership told veteran reporter Ralph Bivins last week that her group had secured an easement for the walkway through the property.
Teardown crews haven’t laid hands so far on the office complex to the east. Renderings put out by Midway in July showed portions of it preserved with a few glassy add-ons clinging to the existing buildings’ faces.
- Previously on Swamplot: Your Best Look Yet at East River’s 136-Acre Bayou-Side Complex for the Fifth Ward; Your Guide to East River Candyland; Former Brown & Root Building 3 Moving on from Amazon Lure to World Series Contention; The Fifth Ward Building with Amazon’s Wall Street Name and Jeff Bezos’s Fast-Action Concept in Lights; A Sign of Amazon Interest in Houston’s ‘East River’; CityCentre Developer Midway Makes a Move on That 136-Acre Former KBR Site Along Buffalo Bayou in the Fifth Ward
Photos:Â Swamplox inbox. Map: Vernon G. Henry & Associates
They did get a variance approved recently for this portion of the property for the entrance off of Jensen. Its not surprising that they will be building from West to East.
Excited to see this project presumably moving forward. I’ve heard some talk that there will be a grocery store included in this development—I hope that’s the case.