I like the UH students Idea of leaving the dome with the sides open - remove the paint from the glass roof and we could make it into a park with statues of houston sports icons. Make it like an outdoor museum to Houston sports past & present. Let it become a place for people to come visit before and after NFL games or during the week and offseason. This way it becomes an attraction.
If there's already a pit there, or would be once demolished, they should do underground parking. You could do it for VIP, open up some of the current VIP to be less VIP'y. then on top of the new VIP build kind of interactive park-like place... where you could include things that pay homage to the dome, but other stuff that could make the gameday experience at Texans games or the Rodeo or NCAA games or the Superbowl, etc. more entertaining. I don't know what those things are, but it seems to me that it would accomplish two tasks. (1) increase parking (albeit underground which is generally more expensive, but having the hole there already helps), and (2) enrich the fan/"gameday" experience, which should keep Reliant in the running for more national events, including regular superbowl bids and NCAA superregional/final four bids, major bowl games, etc. which are the items that really make an economic impact.
I like the idea of leaving the superstructure and removing everything else -- they did something similar in Austin with the Palmer EC. Spoiler
I like this student's ideas but there are a lot of other things that could be done with the Astodome. Frankly I would tear down the Reliant Convention Center and renovate the Astrodome for convention space.
Count me in for supporting that idea. Its so simple and dumb a compromise, that it can work. Its like a skeletal taxidermy. People do have some reverence for the "ghosts" of things. Leave something there as a memory. Can do something hokey like mark the spot on the ground where home plate and pitcher's mound used to be or something. (Could still do that after demolishing it completely, but still). MONEY IS a factor in it all so it probably won't get done. They'll probably favor the most cost effective idea. But leveling it to a parking lot while appropriate would just seem too simplistic. (Its gonna be a cumbersome costly operation no matter what idea it is. And using some of "our" money... Might as well go with the historical preservation. )
Texans, Rodeo will have say on Dome deal By Kiah Collier Five years ago, Harris County appeared on the brink of striking a deal with a group of entrepreneurs to turn the Astrodome into a 1,300-room hotel and convention center, a $450 million plan that never came to fruition. County officials say its failure came down to lack of money. The project, however, faced two other big obstacles: The Houston Texans and the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo, which both opposed the hotel-convention center on the grounds that it would steal away the business of fans and rodeo-goers. While the primary tenants of Reliant Park do not have veto power over development plans, they do have other extensive rights to the site under lease and legal agreements with the county. Even though Harris County Commissioners Court will make the ultimate decision about what to do with the iconic stadium, those rights "must be taken into consideration," said Edgardo Colón, chairman of the governing board of the Harris County Sports & Convention Corp., which oversees Reliant Park. The agency accepted private redevelopment proposals for the historic stadium until midnight on Monday. Executive Director Willie Loston would not say Monday how many plans the agency had received, or whether any meet the qualifications the board set. Among the three criteria, which include ability to secure funding: "Compatibility with the contractual rights of our tenants." "What we are going to do is we are going to analyze all of those proposals, and if we think there is one that may fit within the rights of the current tenant, then we will visit with them and brief them on the proposal," Colón said. Under a 2001 agreement, which officials say was designed in anticipation of Astrodome redevelopment, the Texans and the Rodeo are granted protection from any venture that would eat into their revenue streams, as well as exclusive access to all 25,000 parking spaces on game days, for the Texans, and to the entire complex for nearly three weeks during the rodeo. Asked if those constraints have been a deterrent for investors looking to back a redevelopment plan for the stadium, Colón said it "obviously is a challenge: How to devise your business plan and your visibility given those constraints." The Harris County Attorney's Office has been studying the lease terms so it can advise county staff should a development plan move forward for the vacant stadium, which has not housed a sports team since 2000 when the Astros moved to Minute Maid Park downtown. The city deemed the structure unfit for occupancy in 2009. "It will be a lot easier to for us once we understand what proposals are on the table," First Assistant County Attorney Robert Soard said. "That being said, we do acknowledge that the Rodeo and the Texans have an interest in how the dome will be redeveloped." Rodeo Chief Operating Officer Leroy Shafer, speaking on behalf of both parties, said compliance with the lease agreements is the only parameter they have, other than that a decision be made quickly. "If the proposal comes forward and it's funded and it doesn't violate any of those leasing rights, then we will not oppose it," Shafer said, noting that "there are a lot of things that could be done with the dome that would be in accordance with our lease agreement and there are some things that would not be." Ryan Slattery, who hand-delivered a 30-page "case study" to the Sports Corporation early Monday morning for putting a park underneath a stripped-down Dome, said limited access to the site with two other prominent users was a key consideration in the development of his concept. A green space could be used by both the Texans and the Rodeo, the recent University of Houston architecture graduate said, making it different from other proposals that depend more on total access. Houston Architect Lawrence Levinson, who submitted a plan months ago to turn the dome into a 12,000-space parking garage, said he sees the sheer cost of any redevelopment plan as the main prohibiting factor, not the lease agreements. His would cost an estimated $550 million. Sports Corporation staff will present any qualifying proposals, as well as their own public-use plan for the dome, to Colón and other board members on June 19. At that meeting, the board will vote on what to recommend to Commissioners Court at its capital projects meeting on June 25. http://www.houstonchronicle.com/new...-Rodeo-will-have-say-on-Dome-deal-4592449.php
I like the covered parking plan but I can't see how you'd get 12,000 cars. You can only park about 100 cars in an acre. This article: http://blog.chron.com/houstonpolitics/2013/03/why-would-it-cost-so-much-to-blow-up-the-astrodome/ says it would yield 1600 parking places (I assume at grade level) so you would need 8 levels to get 16,000. You could get 3 levels in the hole, and 5 above grade so maybe... If you did that you would need to address a few issues to make it worth the premium price people would have to pay to make it break even. 1. ingress/egress: no one wants to wait an hour to get out of a parking lot. It can be that way at Toyota's parking now. It would probably need a dedicated entrance and exit from 610 2. I think you would need an elevated climate controlled moving sidewalk to maintain the covered parking convenience $550 million in costs for 12,000 spaces, for 30 events a year, over 30 years though only costs $50 per space per event so I see it as doable.
Why not? You need to at least say your reasons or offer an alternative. I am not saying it is a good decision, but I can see how it would alleviate the need to use the empty lot across the freeway.
this makes me !!!!! why don't the people (who paid 61% for reliant construction) get to have an interest?!?!?!?
http://blog.chron.com/primeproperty/2013/06/a-not-so-modest-proposal-for-the-astrodome/?cmpid=hpfsln A not-so-modest proposal for the Astrodome Prime Property contributor David Kaplan offers a proposal for the Astrodome. It’s Niagara Falls meets Paris World’s Fair meets “2001: A Space Odyssey.” The Astrodome: A Light & Water Wonderland. 1.Exterior: A new skin on the Dome would be clear glass and give it an Apple-store like look. At night the skin would glow with underwater-like flickering colors. 2.Interior, Level Two. A second level would be constructed about three-fourths of the way up and house a planetarium/music stage. Spectators would take a space needle elevator in the center of the Dome to get to it. From Level One the space needle and the fanning-out base of the planetarium would resemble a giant flower. The dome-shaped screen would serve as a planetarium, also project light shows, shooting stars and simulated space travel journeys. Musicians, enveloped by the visuals, would perform concerts. 3.Interior, Level One. Spectators would be surrounded by a 360-degree water wall. River boat rides would take spectators through a winding water wonderland that would contain foutains, mist and spray gardens, waterfalls, other kinds of cascades and hydroponic flower gardens. The spacious Level One would also house an immense swimming pool and water spray park for toddlers. At night, the interior of the Dome would glow with colored lights shining on the water features. (Fort Worth’s Water Gardens make use of changing colored lights shining on water spray, on a small scale, and it is breathtaking) The space needle planetarium “flower” would be lit at night in multiple electric hues. Level One would also house a space needle restaurant and other eateries, dessert bars and a beer garden. I have no idea how much this baby would cost, or if it is feasible. But here’s hoping somebody comes up with some big idea to save the Astrodome — an exciting project worthy of its original promoter, the late Roy Hofheinz.
We all know where this is headed.... they are going to tear down the Astrodome so fat white men can make more money. Houston is a great city, but what it doesn't have that other great cities have is history. Everything is torn down... and in the short term it pays off, but not long term. In my opinion something will be missing long term.
