Chicago has no land issues- it is like Houston as far as space to build and the suburbs are massive. Downtown Chicago built up after the fire as far as skyscrapers are concerned but land isn’t an issue - and after you get outside down town (which really isn’t that big) there is plenty of area to build. Labor is more than expensive in Chicago and that is a small part of why everything isn’t just torn down but it is also more of a cultural priority to save neighborhoods that are unique and architectural areas.
We should host Mad Max death matches to celebrate the upcoming orgy of wins that our country is due. Thunderdome at the Astrodome! Whoever does it could be the Next Dana White.
The open-air pavillion/park is the best idea, but of course it's not something that can be exploited by anyone so it'll never happen. NRG being an asphalt wasteland is really miserable. Putting up a small slice of something green would be nice. Would be a popular place to congregate on gamedays and during events.
Pumping my proposal again for the dome. http://c3homedesign.com/sishir/astrodome/Mixed Use Proposal for Renovation of the Astrodome.pdf
This is awesome. Here’s another precedent right here in Houston: https://www.posthtx.com/ I went down a serious rabbit hole on this with chatgpt. Optimum payback would be to not put parking inside but actually build a 24k parking complex with shuttles and modern tech amenities sold boost income. Payback period would be around 7 years with 3% inflation. This is all theoretical and considering no recession, insane government policies that wreck the economy and/or social upheaval.
Lobbyist get the state legislature to approve it, there is already a big movement for it. https://spectrumlocalnews.com/tx/so...ws 47% of,destination resort casinos in Texas. DD
There's just as much a movement for that as there is for torching alcohol distributor licenses. Good luck with all that.
Anybody who is going to build a casino in Texas is going to want to build something nicer and cheaper, not renovate and repurpose the Astrodome to create something shitty for an absolute assload of money.
About 5 years ago, there was a push to make wineries distribute through the same distribution models that liquors do, they had to change the law to allow on site sales to continue. Same for distilleries....Texas is a backwards thinking state - we give tons of breaks to companies like Tesla and the Boring company to allow them not to pay taxes, then we kill the little guy... DD
Well that is 100% something to consider - I mean in the end, we might be heading towards being a desert with all this climate change....at least in central Texas.... The coast will always get that rain off the gulf moisture. DD
"I don't care about rainwater collection, when it rains it will just evaporate and rain again" -- DD, 10 years ago
Nah, I've never forgotten that. It was the single dumbest thing I'd ever heard you say on the bbs. Glad you eventually decided to think otherwise.
I completely agree. Keep a couple parking lots south of the stadium for tailgating, but the entire other complex should be apartments and bars/restaurants on top of where the current lots are, and you can build a couple of garages for the lost parking. There should be an entertainment district lining the path from the light rail to NRG. It'd be nice to repurpose the dome for historical reasons and extra cool if some of said bars/restaurants were inside the dome. But if it were bulldozed in favor of a larger entertainment district master plan that's fine. I just wouldn't want to tear it down only to replace it with more surface parking.
