I agree completely. Not that their idea is a bad one. I think it would be something that would be perfect to debut at the Super Bowl. It would generate a ton of buzz.
1) It's been discussed several times that renovating it is the most costly, least feasible option. 2) They have it hosting a basketball game on the freaking renderings. 3) Uniqueness doesn't mean jack doodle to event organizers if it is inconvenient and expensive (and it is both). My guess is this the same as those above, some private entity is going to make a lot of money from the public off of this. Once the novelty wears off of "hey, let's host our thingy in the Astrodome!" this will turn into an absolute money pit, if it doesn't end up like that from the start.
Well, I like this a lot more than a parking lot. This space would be great to host Superbowl activities during Superbowl week, and could make Houston more attractive for future Superbowl's in the future. I think it would also be great during the Rodeo.
Actually I'm pretty sure they have it hosting a fan fest, with a graphical banner showing the final four happening next door at Reliant Stadium on the freaking rendering. Speaking of the freaking rendering, you can view the entire 14 slide presentation in PDF form from the link in the chron.com article.
But what can it do that existing Reliant Park can't currently? And the retail space, I didn't realize Houston was short on that. Definitely beats a parking lot, but the best idea was a gutted dome turned into a park and outdoor venue space.
Google I'm half-joking of course but there are various articles and proposals that have been suggested over the years and a good search is a good place to start.
im talking about todays presentations that had financial backing, not the endless 5-10 year old mock-ups of planetarium, movie studio, & hotel ideas...
none of what you posted had finincial backing to support the plan. also they were all several years old and have been talked about many times. weve all seen the swamplot articles and the movie studio plans. thats not what i was talking about.. i was under the impression that the people voting were accepting presentations that HAD to have legit financial backing to proceed. no "IDEAS" but legitimate plans with the money behind them.. one of the videos shows a presentation taking place of the approved plan, im wondering if there is any video of the plans that got rejected from the RECENT presentation..
I also would have preferred a park or outdoor venue, but at this point I just want them to do something with the Dome that will make it usable in some way. Not super excited about this, but I don't know enough about everything that is planned to comment further.
Love the plan. You can essentially tear down reliant arena now and house everything in the dome. The revenue generated will help pay this building off quickly and the Dome gets another 30-40 years of relevancy. The building is already up. It's only going to cost an extra $200m to turn it into something that generates revenue. Houston is booming right now...there's no reason not to save the dome.
I would have loved the preserved skeleton and a nice park in the sea of concrete. You could have had markers where home plate was, field goal posts etc. This is just lame. It's not a convention space. It's a more open area to accommodate other events in the park. It's more like added value. I don't know what convention would pick the circular dome space to the George R Brown or the Reliant Center. It's like taking what once was a dignified and accomplished human being and making them a wal-mart greeter. SMALL problem. Reliant arena... is an arena. There are seats. A ton of business comes from high school graduations. Plus, why tear down a facility that is already paid for and generates money? You are spending money to get rid of something that makes money and spending more money for something that does the same thing but not as well.
While I don't particularlty care for the "process" they used, the end result is basically what i wanted. Make it ground level, gut the inside and have one giant indoor space available. Once it's finished i think people will be surprised how desirable it will become. I always knew it was gonna cost us more than demolition, but I'm okay with it, it's not a ridiculous amount. We need to start retaining our history and start developing a Houston identity. You don't do that by destroying every single thing that outlives it's usefulness.
So this is essentially going to compete with the George R. Brown? Do we have enough of a need in Houston for two mega convention centers?
Stupid stupid stupid. Throw hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars into an armpit hellhole. Brilliant. If anyone thinks the '190 million' price tag is where it would actually end up, you haven;t been paying attention to, well basically anything ever. If they SAY 190 million, then you can expect it to be at least 500 million before it's done, and then watch as it remains just an armpit eyesore, while a bunch of contractors got rich.
Horrible idea, but I'm sure it's good from the perspective of the decision makers. Should have just turned the damned thing into a parking lot.
that's a picture on the side of the building...not a window into a game. the County still owes $30 million for improvements made to the building a long time ago..it's about $80 million to demolish it. i'd rather see it find a use. and i do not doubt that it could draw conventions. the area already draws the OTC, and they expand for space constantly.
I think it's a great idea. It's going to cost $$$ to make and keep Houston as a destination city. The economy here is booming, projects like this are what's going to help the city parlay that success into a sustainable future. A park would have been nice, but I like the idea of a bold move towards banking on this city's potential. From Minute Maid, to Toyota, BBVA, the new stadium @ UH, and now Reliant Park with a repurposed and eclectic Astrodome; Houston will have an elite set of world class facilities unmatched by anywhere in the South, and rivaling the best in the World. Not to mention the new hotel and business projects popping up all around town. These are the types of projects that will reveal to the rest of the world what we've already known to be true: Houston is a hell of a town, with a ceiling North of Mars and just South of Jupiter. Space City. Now throw your "H's" up one time. James Harden style.
I have a lot of great memories of the dome, but we don't need another facility like this. The city has tons of great facilities already. I don't know about the feasibility of turning it into a parking garage, but that seems like the best use for it at this point.
