COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE SOCCER STADIUM AT FINGER FURNITURE “Am I crazy to ask the question why this site would not be an easier solution for the Dynamo’s stadium? It’s right on 45 South, has much better ingress/egress than the east end site, with dedicated exits going north and south, very close to downtown. . . . Looking closer, too, it makes for easy alternative use(s) for the stadium (which means TSU can have even more convenient use of the facilities with their campus not 2 miles away), near Hobby Airport for sports fan travelers/reporters/etc., and doesn’t take a ton of money to make the site possible since it already has a vast parking lot, utilities, (albeit obnoxious) pylon freeway sign. Knowing the Fingers family, they would take the call, and be happy to trade the site for another from the city for future development. Yahtzee!” [JG, commenting on A Whole New Ball Game: Fingers Back and Open for Business]
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I’m for it!
Seeing as how this is a massive retail/industrial facility being put to active economic use and adding value to our tax roles, and also seeing as how there are no (zero) potential development synergies to be had within the immediate neighborhood, I think that this is a horrible idea.
If access is the only criterion, then we’d probably be better served to do something like place it in Memorial Park, off of 610 between Memorial and Woodway. Or we could just replace and reconfigure Northwest Mall. Either of those sites are close to the centroid of population for the Houston MSA and have far superior freeway access. …they’d also very nearly assure the denial of public funding.
I made the case a few weeks ago, that the PlazAmericas Mall would be a perfect place for the Dynamo Soccer Stadium.
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There are lots of reasons for it. PlazAmericas has asy access to I-59 and the proposed University Line Light Rail. They could reuse the mall’s parking and drainage infrastructure (saving $$$$$$$). Soccer is an international sport, and the neighborhoods surrounding PlazAmericas are some of Houston’s most international.