http://www.reliantpark.com/feedback/ nice site, you can see the 48 page master plan, vote on the options (i'm not happy with the choices), and leave feedback. do your part.
Does Athens tear down the Parthenon? No. They spend money because tourists would fly thousands of miles just to see it. Who cares that it is draining the city from restoration efforts? You'll make it back in tourist tax revenue. Probably a bad idea to reference a country that is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy as an example and no I don't think people will fly thousands of miles to see the Astrodome. I do see major conventions switching long standing city allegiances and moving to Houston just for the opportunity to host their convention inside a re purposed Astrodome. It's a $1.35 billion dollar project that offers something for kids or adults and should bring in a lot of tourist tax revenue. We're only going to be asked to foot 1/3 of it...$450million not $900million. It will cost $200million to tear it down...an empty lot doesn't bring conventions to your city. An iconic centerpiece will. Reliant Park Re Purposed Dome
those calling for a casino, myself included, need to lobby austin (not the reliant park people) to legalize gambling. dallas wanted to turn reunion arena in to a casino... how'd that turn out? Spoiler jev5555 wants to talk about how much the city/county could potentially make with a convention center, but why should we (the taxpayers) foot part of that bill? IMO, private financing, and funding through the TIRZ should be the only options.
If this goes through then what happens to George R. Brown and the Hilton that we built right next to it?
It held 60K people which was twice the size of the largest MLB parks of it's time. It was built for Babe Ruth, the best baseball player of all time and it had more history then any other ballpark. You don't live here and have not done so for decades. Houston is ready to move past a rotting good for nothing eye-sore of a stadium.
True but it wasn't an engineering marvel. So I suppose anytime you express an opinion about someplace you don't live in we should consider your opinion worthless? Anyway I've worked on Houston projects recently have been down to Houston several times the last few years. Heck I flew down a couple of years just to catch a Rockets game at TC Center.
I would love to come down and take a tour of the refurbished Astrodome. I wouldn't mind seeing it again even now.
Houston's history is its blatant disregard for preserving history. I fear that if you do try to preserve the Dome, it will look as terrible as the Heritage Society's work on Sam Houston Park in downtown.
When you will not be living in the city that is paying to keep it around, yeah your opinion's value drops significantly. I was pro astrodome until it could not even house the Texans when we needed after the hurricane. It is worthless and anything outside of a casino will lose hundreds of millions of dollars. My grandpa and uncle worked on building it. Keeping a sentimental material object is crazy once it costs hundreds of millions to do so.
Yankee Stadium: Place where World Series championships were won Astrodome: Place where engineering marvel happened Sounds like a VERY compelling argument
A large convention center with a Smithsonian type museum more geared toward the Space history of the world would be cool considering our ties with the space program. That or a Casino but good luck getting a baptist state to approve that one... I say tear it down and make a nice park or hollow it out and make it a parking garage, transit hub for the light rail and put multiple floors in. Dump the Galleria and create a super/high end shopping center or something.
Latest Astrodome Redevelopment Proposal Features Large Domed Space for People To Mill About, Wondering What To Do with Astrodome
Perhaps I'm missing something in this whole debate, but how many convention centers do we need? Is the GRB not enough or something? Can we not accommodate conventions as-is? Are we turning them away or something? I genuinely do not understand the convention center/hotel argument. Seems to me we have a whole lot of both already. Am I missing something?
