CASE STUDY 12 — Sillman St. Office Warehouse Office Warehouse Development | Full Civil Engineering Design

PROJECT OVERVIEW

JRH Engineering provided complete civil engineering design for a new single-occupant office warehouse in Sealy, Texas. The site presented two constraints that required careful engineering: a significant grade change throughout the property, and a floodplain at the rear that limited usable land. JRH resolved both by routing site access away from an adjacent railroad crossing and placing detention in the floodplain-impacted rear — turning the site's most constrained area into its most useful drainage asset.

AT A GLANCE

Site Civil Design

● Full site civil design including grading, paving, access, and building pad layout

● Access routed away from the adjacent railroad crossing — eliminating the need for railroad crossing permits and coordination delays

● Detention placed at the rear of the property where floodplain constraints already limited development potential — turning a constraint into a drainage asset

● Grade change managed through strategic site grading — natural topography used to minimize earthwork cost

Utility Infrastructure

● Private water well and septic system designed and permitted — no municipal utility extensions required

● Well and septic approach eliminated all utility extension dependency from the schedule

● No waiting on city or MUD infrastructure — project timeline entirely within the developer's control

Stormwater & Drainage

● Detention located at the rear of the property in the floodplain-impacted area — land that could not support building development was repurposed for drainage

● Rear placement preserved the front and middle of the site for the warehouse building and operations area

● Storm drainage approved by City of Sealy

Permitting & Agency Coordination

● Railroad crossing permit avoided entirely through access rerouting — one of the most time-consuming approval processes on industrial sites eliminated before submittal

● City of Sealy permitting streamlined by complete submission package

● Well and septic design removed utility permitting from the critical path entirely

THE CHALLENGE

Railroad crossing permits are slow — they involve a separate federal and railroad company approval process that runs on its own timeline, completely independent of city or county review. The Sillman St. site had an adjacent crossing that would have been the natural access point — but natural is not always fastest. Meanwhile, the rear floodplain area was limiting the buildable footprint, and no municipal utilities were available.

JRH's Approach

JRH eliminated the railroad crossing problem by rerouting access to avoid it entirely — one design decision that removed an entire approval track from the schedule. The floodplain rear was not fought; it was used. Detention was placed there because it was the lowest-value development land on the site, and it satisfied the drainage requirement while preserving the front and middle for the warehouse. A private well and septic kept utilities off the critical path.

The Result

A fully permitted office warehouse on a challenging site — delivered without a railroad crossing permit and without waiting on municipal utility extensions.

RESULTS

● Railroad crossing permit eliminated through access rerouting — one of the most common industrial site delays avoided entirely

● Floodplain rear converted to detention area — site constraint turned into drainage asset, preserving buildable front acreage

● Utility independence achieved through private well and septic — no extension timeline dependencies