The $450-million plan to reinvent the Astrodome as an upscale convention hotel may have died today when the Texans and Houston rodeo officials announced their opposition to the redevelopment effort. The Texans and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo's contracts in effect give them veto power over new development at Reliant Park. Officials at both organizations said they opposed the Astrodome Redevelopment Co.'s complex that would include a 1,300-room hotel, restaurants, a food court and amusement rides because it could hurt their operations. "Not until we saw their plans recently did we realize that this project has the ability to cannibalize our operations," said Leroy Shafer, the rodeo's chief operating officer. "Every dollar spent that is spent there is one that might not be spent at the rodeo." Jamey Rootes, a Texans' official, said the Texans were worried that the hotel would hamper the flow of fans in and out of games on the Texans' 10 game days. Scott Hanson, president of Astrodome Redevelopment, could not be reached. He and other company officials have said they understand that the hotel would derive some of its business from the rodeo and the Texans. Astrodome Redevelopment has been trying to negotiate deals with the Texans and the rodeo and was willing to give both organizations a cut of its business, Hanson has said. Astrodome Redevelopment announced in early September that it had cleared a major hurdle by gaining preliminary approval from Deutsche Bank, a major commercial lender, to finance the deal. In addition, the Texas Historical Commission approved the company's renovation plans, qualifying it for a federal historic rehabilitation tax credit. The tax credit was integral to Astrodome Redevelopment's financing application. As much as $350 million of the work on the $450 million project may qualify for the tax credit, which could be worth $70 million to Astrodome Redevelopment, John Clanton, the firm's chief executive, has said. Shafer said restaurants that pay to operate at the rodeo could stop leasing if business was siphoned off by the hotel's food court. And Shafer said he was concerned that the hotel would decrease the value of exclusivity rights at the rodeo. Coca-Cola, for instance, buys the right to sell its products exclusively at the rodeo. "It became obvious to us that a tremendous amount of our revenue will be lost at our show," he said. County Judge Ed Emmett signaled in September that he isn't convinced the project is viable. While attending the Texans' home opener in September, he said the Astrodome struck him as an aging, rusted-out battleship that remains in a spruced-up port. County officials have wrestled with what to do with the Astrodome since its last major tenant, the Astros, moved into Minute Maid Park in 2000. To some, the Astrodome is now aging eyesore. But to other Houstonians, it remains an iconic symbol of Houston. It was the world's first massive indoor sporting venue when it opened in 1965 and soon was dubbed the Eighth Wonder of the World. Commissioner Steve Radack has questioned whether Houston needs another convention hotel. Business has been spotty sometimes at the city-owned Hilton Americas near George R. Brown Convention Center since it opened in late 2003. But Hanson and Clanton have said the convention hotel would make money. It would employ 1,550 and generate nearly $23 million in state, county, local and other tax revenues, Hanson has said. Astrodome Redevelopment scrapped a best of historic Texas theme for a more modern, streamlined look and possibly air rides. The complex would have as many as 1,300 hotel rooms, ballrooms, convention meeting rooms, multiple restaurants, upscale shopping, one or more music venues and some amusement rides. Swaths of Astroturf would be replaced by a series of ponds, fountains and tall trees. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5257204.html
So you wait to tell them that NOW?? Give me a break. This proposal has been out there for about a year now. They've gone through all the channels to work on funding and have worked with the county to make it happen. "Every dollar spent that is spent there is one that might not be spent at the rodeo." I don't even know what that means....are they trying to put me out of business, too? I mean, every dollar you spend on legal services is a dollar that might not be spent at the rodeo.
thats pretty crappy on their part. I've been losing more and more respect for McNair and the Texans the past few years.
Itz not an eyesore! Plus, they are going to clean it up. Remember how nice they made it look b4 the republican convention in '92. After that Drayton started cleaning it up for baseball, putting in a new green fence and scoreboard. That wasn't even 10 years ago they moved out and it looked nice, it just wasn't an ideal stadium for football or baseball. My idea is to do the hotel/convention center thing but also find some way to get a casino. If they did that, they could either put the casino at the top or even better a boxing arena. Make a glass roof look really nice and have a 10,000 or so boxing arena under it. If thats impossible the casino floor could be up top like that. The astrodome and the hotels and shops that will be built where astroworld was could really help Houston's bid for the olympics in 2016. We need to do this because with that monster Arlington is putting up we could lose that bid to lil d and that is unacceptable! The olympics will come to Texas, they want it in this state next time they come to America, so it needs to be in Houston. Dallas will have the stadium, we are going to have to show we have a better all round sports facilities and hotels around and all that other stuff thats involved outside the stadium. Which I believe we are much better suited for and is why they were cut b4 us in the American bid for 2012. Surprisingly, Yao might be the best thing for Houston's chances. If the rox can start winning championships soon and give Houston even more world attention it will make it easier to win the American bid.
The last thing in the world I want in Houston is a casino. It would also be shady to put one next to a football stadium. I don't want whitetrash flocking to Houston for a weekend of gambling a la Lake Charles or Shreveport. If you want to gamble, go to Louisiana. I don't want Houston to bring in more people on the weekends.
Why wait until now? Because it's politics and business. Why would you let an outsider on your turf? Give the Texans and rodeo a little more of the cut and they would about face.
You must not be old enough to pay taxes. Taxpayers have been footing the bill to maintain the dome for all of these years and nothing has happened to redevelop it. So if they haven't figure it out by now, they should just demolish it. All other stadiums in the U.S. have been demolished, i.e. King Dome, Bush Stadium, Veteran's stadium, Riverfront Stadium, Three Rivers stadium, etc,. Let's not make the dome nostalgic, just knock it down.
For the life of me, I have never understood the sentimental attachment to the Astrodome. I'm sure people will cry for a few minutes if it's blown up, but they'll get over it...
Every dollar I spend paying rent is one that might not be spent at the rodeo. They are trying to get me to move out? lol
It's a fair point by Texans/Rodeo. If a key part of this plan is to have a mini-mall of sorts inside, people there may decide to eat/souvenir shop there inside of at the Rodeo/Texans. It's not going to send those guys under, but it does devalue them a little. They can only price gouge when there is a no-compete environment. They could negotiate this, obviously. Hand over a % whenever they're in operation on a day during Texans or Rodeo. Shut down the mini mall on Texan game days (less likely). Set equivalent prices or share the same vendors. I will say, we could stand to have a nice hotel out there. The current ones in walking distance of the stadium are mediocre if you're kind. The Hampton Inn on OST is the closest thing to nice anywhere nearby. I'm also fine with demolishing the Dome. I love it, but we've let it stand unused long enough. If there isn't a purpose for it, we may as well get a few more parking spots. Evan
It's the same kind of affection that is shown to Fenway park or Wrigley field. The kingdome was destroyed because it was sh*tty. The roof was not architecturally sound and Seattle faced a huge maintenance bill in order to repair the roof. The Astrodome is iconic to Houston. To destroy it would be the slightly less eqivilent of destroying the Roman Colliseum. In some form or fashion the Dome needs to be saved...the Texans and Rodeo just shafted the AR people after the plan had been in circulation for months. What a shame.
