Houston to bid for Super Bowl LI (UPDATE: Houston lands 2017 Super Bowl!)

Neither does 99% of the population, which is why it's silly to keep it standing for the sake of some architecture history student's boner.

 

I agree with you generally about re-purposing the Dome. It's an asset, and it should be put to use; particularly given the costs and complications of tearing it down.

Having said that, I don't get the amusement park analogy. Neither Houston nor Harris County owned or operated AstroWorld. We didn't get a say in whether it was shut down or not. It was a private company that decided it was better to shut it down than keep operating it.

 

Visiting my family for Thanksgiving last year, my SO and I drove by NRG Park coming from the airport.

 

The purpose may be the similar; the financial ramifications are not.

IOW, you couldn't do it. I can name two Six Flags properties: AstroWorld and the one in Arlington - gun to my head, I have no idea if the one in Arlington is still in operation because I'm not 14 and don't care about third-rate local amusement parks that people stopped going to because it never evolved from the 1970s.

 

Legitimate question: is the Dome appreciably more expensive to tear down than, well, every other stadium ever? And if so, why?

 

My understand is that it is...and that it has to do, at least in part, with its proximity to NRG.

 

Ahh, first ones here, first ones here.....

FIRST ONES HERE!

Spoiler

 

Hopefully some "private company" opens another park because AstroWorld was a sad and embarrassing demise.

Moody Gardens and Kemah are nice accents, but one big park is what most cities have. Inexcusable for warm weather, big city, Houston to not have one.

^^LOL at this "get off my lawn" post.

Change your signature to "Scrooge".

 

That's not a unique situation by any means. 3 Rivers stadium, riverfront stadium, the kingdome and Boston garden all were demolished in very close proximity to newer stadiums.

There is significant costs with filling up the gigantic/deep hole the dome was built in... Most stadiums/arenas weren't built that deep. There's also asbestos abatement that apparently is in much larger quantities than other stadiums.

The real question is whether or not it's appreciably more expensive to tear down the dome than simply any other venture... It's likely not. I do like the idea of preserving the outer pillars... That sort of tear down would likely be more expensive as they couldn't just do a designed implosion, if they wanted to preserve any of the structural integrity.

 

Don't we routinely nuke buildings in, like, the middle of downtowns all across this country?

For all this talk of embarrassment, to me, the fact we've sat on our hands for 16+ years and let this drag out is far more embarrassing than, well, losing freaking AstroWorld. I can't imagine there are too many people outside of Houston who'll visit next year and think, "Oh, cool - the decrepit Dome is still standing... Thanks god! I've always wanted a picture of the height of 1960s architecture..."

 

I'm certainly not an expert in the cost of demolition.

It's also my understanding the Dome has been added to a national register of historic places that makes it possible to get some federal money or tax incentives to help re-purpose it. If the state ends up adding it to their register of historic places, it can't be demolished.

I just tend to think that as long as a building isn't going to fall down on you...and taxpayers paid for it...you should find a way to use it. I recognize there are costs to maintain it and to re-purpose it. There are also costs to getting rid of it. No one is suggesting those efforts to keep it should be funded 100% publicly.

 

I'm all for keeping it... If it's serving a purpose. I just have a hard time figuring out what that purpose is (other than it being used as a stadium). Taxpayers paid for a stadium. Does it being a historical landmark also entitle it to be preserved in its original state/function?

It's wasting away currently.... I do have a problem with letting it sit there, rotting, with no clear plan as to what to do with it. There should be a timetable/deadline on figuring something out (many thought the SB would be an impetus for progress).... It's embarrassing.

 

I agree. I'm all for a reasonable use but to twiddle your thumbs for this long is ridiculous. I appreciate the sentimentality but eventual you have to cut the cord. Draw a line in the sand. Put the pressure of a deadline on it and hope for the best. If nothing comes, then end the embarrassment and take it down.

 

I don't understand *why* people want to save it... I mean, again - I get its historical importance and I have a lot (tons) of tremendous Dome memories - but I can't, for the life of me, wrap my head around why it's still standing. It should have been leveled in 2000, IMO. (Or, I guess, 2002 as I assume it was used in '00 and '01 for the Rodeo?) This seems so no-brainer to me.

Is there any other precedent for a city keeping an outdated, unused stadium?

 

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/new...xans-put-Dome-demolish-cost-at-29-4368256.php

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/new...owed-on-Dome-less-than-previously-4608496.php

So, there's about 5-6 million owed on the dome (from Bud Adams, lulz), and it will cost somewhere between 30-60 million to tear it down (leaving only a parking lot in its wake).

Anything other than a parking lot, and the price tag is probably going to soar.

A parking lot is not politically feasible, and an actual structure is financially infeasible.

This creates a kick the can scenario, where we simply tolerate the 2-3MM we pay a year on it in upkeep because nobody can either a) swallow the political poison pill that is being the person who 'killed' the dome or b) raise the money to actually give it a proper burial.

 

I think if it was cheaper to demolish it would have gone down. It will cost like $70m and don't they still owe money on the building?

 

I don't follow why a parking lot is politically unfeasible? Anyone who's ever been to NRG has to have, at some point, cursed the Dome for NOT being a parking lot, right? I just can't believe adding.... 10-20,000 parking spaces would be seen as a bad thing, given how poorly mis-managed the game day experience is at NRG.

 

They should tear it down, put a huge screen up and charge half the ticket price to watch the game with 20,000 outside the stadium. Like an extended tailgate party.

 

Listen to sports radio when this topic gets brought up and you will understand why it is politically infeasible.

A parking lot is a perceived insult and outrage to all the nostalgia boner having dingdongs who love this abandoned building.

Many of those dingdongs actually hold office, or at the very least are politically beholdened to such dingdongs.

Bob Lanier is the Mayor who lost the Oilers. Nobody wants to be the Mayor/County Judge/Whatever who killed the Dome.

 

I don't think I said dingdong enough in my last post.

Dingdong.