- A Breakdown of What $105M Would Buy in the Proposed Astrodome Parking Garage Redo [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- Slideshow: What the Inside of the Astrodome Looks Like Today [Houston Chronicle]
- JLL To Acquire Houston Affiliate of Commercial Real Estate Valuation Company Integra Realty Resources [HBJ]
- Port of Galveston Buys Out Joe’s Crab Shack Restaurant’s Lease at Pier 19 [Galveston County Daily News ($)]
- Lawyers for Proposed Houston-Dallas High-Speed Rail Withdraw Request for Entry to Northwestern Harris County Property [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- Scientists Find “Definitive Link” Between Disposal of Fracking Byproducts and East Texas Earthquakes [Texas Monthly]
- How 9 Office Markets Besides Houston Are Dealing with Low Oil Prices [Bisnow]
Photo of TejasTreffen classic Porsche show photo shoot setup at Winter Street Studios: TejasTreffen
Headlines
Re: Breakdown of $105 million for Dome Parking Rehab
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In looking at the breakdown, they would spend $6.6 million on “demolition”. To demolish the whole thing would cost $30 million. If we’re in it for $6.6 million, just spend the other $24 million and be done with it.
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Added benefit: a “savings” of $75 million for the county since we won’t spend $105 million, only $30 million. No more annual maintenance of $170,000, too. If one looks at the most recent interior photos, the Dome is in poor shape and has no longer the cachet of the past. Let the old gal go with dignity.
Thanks for using our picture, it’s exciting to see it around the internet!
We did a photo-shot in a couple of Houston locations to promote our Classic Porsche and Art Show on November 19th.
The location is Winter Street Studios
Thanks!
@Wolf Brand Chili: You fail to account for the value of the brand identity of the Dome. So demo’ing it would come to a complete loss with nothing of replacement value for it.
@Tejastreffen, I’d like to hear more about this show!
@ Infinite Jim
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I respectfully disagree with your premise. What could be the possible dollar value of such “brand identity”? “Brand Identity” plus $5 will get you a latte at Starbucks.
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Unfortunately, the county commissioners have already voted to throw $105 million of good money after the bad at this point.
Brand identity of the Astrodome? I can assure you that somewhere north of 80% of under 35 year olds in this country know anything of the Astrodome. The people who think of it as some sort of landmark are mostly collecting their Social Security checks.
Hi JC! TejasTreffen just sent us some more photos of the shoot that elnina captured; we’ve just swapped the photo and added a link to info about the car show to the photo credit line.
For people who are curious, the artist of the mural at Winter Street Studios is Michael C. Rodriguez.
TejasTreffen needs to be crediting the artists whose works appear as backdrops in their promotional images.
@ ShadyHeightster: Yes, the young adult population (in Houston and elsewhere) is self-absorbed and most of them are only superficially aware of local history if not utterly blind to it. There’s nothing new or abnormal about that, in and of itself. If the Astrodome ought to be saved on the premise of brand identity or historical preservation, but also with a mind for how it might be used on an ongoing basis, then it needs to be understood that we’re not saving the Astrodome for the 20% of young adults that have a clue today. We’re saving it for today’s old farts and the next 40% of those young adults who’ll be middle-aged in another twenty years and will have gotten a clue by then.
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(And by the way, this is coming from somebody who still temporarily falls into your demographic range and who has no personal connection to the Astrodome. I don’t think that I’ve ever been inside of it. That’s not really the point.)
It could be that the young adults (of houston and elsewhere) are getting tired of having taxpayer dollars used to prop up the NFL. Maybe it’s a generation at the receiving end of decades of wasteful spending who are tired of seeing good money thrown after bad, knowing that they’re the ones who will have to carry the ultimate burden.
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TEAR.IT.DOWN.
Erection has a good point. My kids don’t even ask about the Texans or any NFL team. There is a change in attitude on the horizon about how public money is spent especially when the generation that’s in elementary and middle school right now has to foot the bill for all the painted face thirty something year old idiots you see tailgating now. The whole thing has jumped the shark. As someone who watched Bum and Earl rule the Dome I still say tear it down.
@Wolf Brand Chili
So $5.00 plus “brand identity = a Starbucks latte
first off have you been to any coffee shop other than Starbucks that charges less than $5.00 for a latte (not talking about basic coffee from DD or McDonalds)? Also Starbucks is ubiquitous whereas the Dome is The AstroDome.
@Shadyheightster
Ever heard a phrase “Houston, we have a problem” ? Enlighten us with your keen PR insights and polling on what the rest of the world actually knows about Houston, cross tabs would also be appreciated so we can break out that elusive under 30 demo.
Tearing down our 60’s Space era Architecture for the fetish of demo pornsters and 70’s tax revolters is so wasteful and short sighted, respectfully, as to disqualify you from polite conversation. Your reasons are a transparent ruse. Your ideas about infrastructure value and municipal wealth building are small beer and I don’t have anymore time to comment on blog threads that I only peruse to see if there’s a great to interesting concern-trolling Niche post.
@infinite_jim Yeah it really seems like you don’t have time to comment on a blog post. Your arguments are as tired and structurally weak as the Astrodome, and just about as useful.