The Blast is Back On at Imperial: Two Metal Buildings To Be Imploded on December 19th

SUGAR LAND, TEXAS – The implosion of two metal buildings at the historic Imperial Sugar Company refinery located on Highway 90A in Sugar Land has been rescheduled for 7 am on Sunday, December 19th. The two metal buildings are located adjacent to the historic char house, an icon of Sugar Land. The char house will remain as part of the project, and the plans for the implosion remain as previously scheduled.
"Two large, metal buildings, the furnace house located adjacent to the char house and the bin building located to the north of the char house, will both be removed to make way for the redevelopment of this historic site," said Shay Shafie, General Manager of Imperial. "The buildings are not suitable for renovation and therefore, cannot be incorporated into the new plan. However, the historic landmark building associated with Imperial Sugar, the red brick char house, will remain on the property and it, along with other historic elements from the site, will be incorporated into the redevelopment plans." The Imperial Crown logo along and with various other historic artifacts located on the site have been removed to both preserve and re-utilize them in the Imperial redevelopment. Two original smoke stacks are also being preserved in place for future use.

The demolition will be coordinated by D.H. Griffin of Texas, Inc., one of the nation's foremost demolition and dismantling contractors, and ESE Partners, LLC, the project's environmental engineer. D.H. Griffin's resume includes projects throughout the United States including the demolition of Houston Astro Hall, Houston's Jeff Davis Hospital, a concentrate building located in a copper mine in Silver Spring, New Mexico, and removal of the Tule Lake Lift Span Bridge in Corpus Christi. The company was also responsible for bringing down the tallest building in Texas with explosives: the 407 foot tall Landmark Tower in Fort Worth. In addition to their demolition projects, D.H. Griffin was one of the first contractors called to respond to the devastation on the Mississippi coast caused by Hurricane Katrina. ESE is a leader in the field of environmental engineering with respect to the cleanup of Brownfield redevelopments and is responsible for the design and management of all demolition and environmental remediation on the project.

The plans for the Imperial site include two implosions. The two metal buildings will be wired with explosives that will allow the dismantling of the buildings by causing them to fall eastward away from the char house. "The implosion will be memorable, not only because of its significance in preserving the integrity of the historical structures, but also for its role in helping bring new life and development to the area with Imperial as its historic center," said Shafie.

A public viewing area will be available to the east of Main Street north of Highway 90A; however, cars will not be admitted to the immediate viewing area as streets around the site will be closed including Highway 90A prior to the blasts. Public parking will be available at Lakeview Elementary, 314 Lakeview Drive, and Sugar Land Middle School, 321 Seventh Street. Spectators should be in place by 6:30 am due to road closures, and Johnson Development is planning additional security and traffic control for the event.

Plans for Imperial, a 700 acre Master-Planned Community located in Sugar Land, Texas, will include the historic Imperial Sugar Company refinery, which has been selected as the site for City's new minor league baseball stadium. Just over a year ago, Johnson Development was selected as Imperial's development manager by Cherokee Sugar Land LP and the State of Texas General Land Office. Johnson's charge is to bring life back to the old Imperial Sugar Refinery site with a mix of retail, commercial, hospitality, restaurants, office and urban residential land structures, and the implosion is the first step in this process. The master plan also includes a significant amount of land across from the Sugar Land Regional Airport being dedicated for the City's next professional business and technology park.