HOUSTON – (By Michelle Leigh Smith for Realty News Report) – A major urban infill project that could transform Houston is planned for the eastern edge of downtown.
Located on a prominent waterfront site that locals often refer to as a bayou, the developer has chosen the name “East River” to reflect the project’s relationship to the water.
Midway CEO Jonathan Brinsden told a panel Wednesday that East River is expected to break ground by the end of the year.
Spanning more than 150 acres and featuring over a mile of Buffalo Bayou frontage, East River’s master plan calls for approximately 8.9 million square feet of office space, 1,400 multi-family units, 390 hotel rooms, and 475 single-family homes. Brinsden shared the latest project update at a Greater Houston Partnership event held at the historic DeLuxe Theater on Lyons Avenue.
The development will include the new Houston Maritime Museum, which is still in its fundraising phase, positioned to front Buffalo Bayou near East River’s main entrance. “It’s only fitting that the Houston Maritime Museum be right on the bayou,” Brinsden said.
The north side of East River borders Clinton Drive, once the site of Brown & Root, the company founded in 1919 that celebrated its centennial this year. The firm evolved from blue-collar beginnings—building naval bases and the Mansfield Dam on the Colorado River with massive concrete pours as early as 1936—into a major engineering and construction company. After contributing to projects such as the Johnson Space Center and numerous government facilities, Brown & Root merged with M.W. Kellogg in 1998 to form KBR.
Midway is collaborating closely with the Buffalo Bayou Partnership, the City of Houston and neighborhood leaders such as Kathy Flanagan-Payton, president and CEO of the Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation. Ann Taylor, Midway’s senior vice president of marketing and communications, also serves on the Fifth Ward CRC board. Brinsden noted that creating a first-class urban environment will require substantial infrastructure work.
“To do this, we are re-stitching the urban grid—connecting main thoroughfares like Gregg, Bayou and Bringhurst,” he said. Hirsch Street marks the eastern border of the project while Jensen Drive runs along the west.
Brinsden noted a broader shift in Houston’s planning mindset: “For years Houston turned its back on the bayous—now they are embracing them. It’s both an opportunity and a challenge.” Midway’s guiding principles—urban, active, excellent, authentic and exponential—are guiding the design and decision-making process.
Brinsden serves on the Urban Land Institute Global Board of Directors and is a past chair of ULI Houston. “We follow these tenets to help us weigh decisions and develop a consistently high-quality place,” he said. “We are always looking at how this does more for everyone. Over time, as we grow, we hope that some of the 150 acres may be used for community gardens, school programs and neighborhood activities.”
CBRE will handle leasing for Phase One of East River. Recent townhome development in the Fifth Ward points to the neighborhood’s changing residential market. Architect Camilo Parra of Parra Design Group, based at 4619 Lyons Avenue, has been building upscale homes there for the past five years featuring quality finishes, custom cabinetry and hardwood floors. “We have no trouble selling homes there because it’s such a great location—close to downtown and with a new elementary school and community center,” said Nancy Parra, the firm’s financial manager. The homes target median-income families and first-time buyers.
One block from Parra Design’s office stands St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, a 1940s-era building that has been vacant in recent years. On Wednesday, planners received a letter of intent from the City of Houston for a $53 million investment to convert the site into 179 mixed-income apartments, according to Flanagan-Payton. Researchers at the Kinder Institute have also compiled detailed data on gentrification and neighborhood change in the area once home to leaders such as the late Barbara Jordan and Mickey Leland.
Aug. 29, 2019 Realty News Report Copyright 2019
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