Swamplot Archives by Tag: 77054

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Landscape History from Above: Exploring 30 Years of Houston Sprawl

December 29, 2009 – 11:36 am

Swamplot reader Superdave, a self-proclaimed “Google Earth junkie,” is grooving on the program’s recently extended time travel feature:

In the most recent update of the free software, they added a feature where you can view aerial images from previous years, which is cool. At first they only went back 5 years or so. However, today I noticed that they’ve added imagery from December 1978 for nearly the entire Houston area.

I was numbstruck as I zoomed around and realized how substantially different this city is after our rampant growth over the past 30 years. I even got kind of sentimental seeing all those rice fields out west, where I grew up. I also felt a conflicted sense of relief that we’re in an economic downturn that will kind of apply the brakes (I’m sick, I know).

How’d the area around the Astrodome look 30 years ago?

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11:36 am | 7 Comments | Read more about Houston History, Neighborhoods: Reliant Park, Online Resources, Sprawl
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Friday, July 31, 2009

Pierce Junction Barbecue Camp

July 31, 2009 – 9:22 am

Frankie Mandola and Bubba Butera, the former owners of the shuttered State Grille, tell Houston Business Journal reporter Jennifer Dawson they’re planning to open an large, outdoorish event space just southeast of the former AstroWorld site:

Bayou City Event Center Pavilion will occupy 11 acres at 9500 Almeda in a primarily industrial area. Mandola says the site is near his customer base — the Texas Medical Center, Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, Rice University and University of Houston.

Darryl Schroeder and Robert Steele, who owned the vacant land, are joint venture partners on the development.

The project includes a 15,000-square-foot covered pavilion that will be able to accommodate up to 1,000 people for crawfish boils, fish frys, barbecue dinners and the like. The open-air facility is slated to be finished in November. Phase II will be a 40,000-square-foot banquet facility with multiple rooms that can hold 100 to 1,600 people. Construction will start in October and is scheduled for completion in May 2010.

Here’s a plan of the compound, from the website of Houston’s Andria Design:

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9:22 am | 13 Comments | Read more about Neighborhoods: Pierce Junction, Proposed Developments, Transportation
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Thursday, April 30, 2009

Comment of the Day: Astrodome Science Project

April 30, 2009 – 11:32 pm
   

“. . . what a cool environmental study to see how long, and in what ways, nature completely takes the place over. I’d guess 25 years & it would be identifiable only to those who already know it - a full generation who would have never seen it in the first place. The roof would fall in and woody plants would find niches underneath it, long before the big doughnut of a parking lot would disappear. Grade-schoolers could take field-trips there & High School science projects would follow the Astrodome’s demise: How many years before nesting birds arrive? Does concrete break down faster than steel? Do cigarette butts ever decompose?” [movocelot, commenting on Comment of the Day: The Astrodome Mothball Savings Plan]

11:32 pm | 2 Comments | Read more about Comments, Historic Preservation, Neighborhoods: Reliant Park, Public Buildings, Quicklink
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Thursday, April 23, 2009

Comment of the Day: The Astrodome Mothball Savings Plan

April 23, 2009 – 11:47 pm
   

“There was a Chronicle article a while back that estimated the cost of demolition at $30 million, as compared to something like $600,000 per year just to keep it in mothballs. I ran it through an NPV analysis, and it actually was not cost effective to tear it down. It’s better fiscal policy to keep it, even if we never use it for any purpose ever again. I’m not much of a sentimentalist, but this is the kind of historical preservation I can get behind. Anything to save a buck.” [TheNiche, commenting on County Judge Foresees New Use for Astrodome: Giant Enclosed Space, Shielded from Weather]

11:47 pm | 5 Comments | Read more about Comments, Demolitions, Historic Preservation, Neighborhoods: Reliant Center, Public Buildings, Quicklink
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County Judge Foresees New Use for Astrodome: Giant Enclosed Space, Shielded from Weather

April 23, 2009 – 1:39 pm

Noting that negotiations intended to turn the Harris County Domed Stadium into a convention-center hotel have “not progressed in recent months,” County Judge Ed Emmett suggests an entirely new idea for reusing the shuttered structure: How about turning the Astrodome into . . . a giant indoor, air-conditioned space where people could hold . . . events?

Emmett writes in a Chronicle blog:

. . . as we saw only too clearly last weekend, we in Harris County are extremely vulnerable to the vagaries of our weather. The International Festival suffered a pretty serious setback with the torrential rainfall we had Saturday. Having the Dome available for such eventualities seems to me a potential solution worth investigating.

Some of the major festival organizers have responded eagerly to the idea in informal discussions, so I’m now soliciting input from other organizers, civic groups, preservationists and the public at large.

At the same time, other groups are discussing museums, planetariums, studios and all sorts of public venues, but having the Dome as a multipurpose facility for everyone to enjoy would be tremendous. Of course, I imagine the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo would find it a useful venue too.

Photo: Jeff Balke

1:39 pm | 23 Comments | Read more about Attractions, Neighborhoods: Reliant Park, Public Buildings
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Monday, April 20, 2009

Seen on the Street: Need To Get Out More Often

April 20, 2009 – 2:55 pm

Here’s the latest installment of Swamplot’s fun-pix-from-around-town feature!

Above: While visiting last weekend’s Gulf Coast Green symposium and expo at the Reliant Center, Sean Morrissey Carroll catches the Astrodome peeking in on the action.

A few more images loom:

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2:55 pm | 2 Comments | Read more about Critters, Home Decor, Neighborhoods: Hermann Park, Neighborhoods: Reliant Park, Neighborhoods: University of Houston
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Thursday, March 19, 2009

The Astrodome and the Colosseum

March 19, 2009 – 5:02 pm
   

Ken Hoffman returns from Italy with a little perspective: “The Colosseum was originally called Amphitheatrum Flavium, and it was built by the powerful emperors Vespasian, Titus and Domitian. The Astrodome was originally called the Harris County Domed Stadium, and it was governed by former Houston Mayor and Harris County Judge Roy Hofheinz. He just thought he was an emperor. The Colosseum, after several expansions (mostly to honor a new emperor), had a seating capacity of about 65,000. It had 80 entrances and could completely fill and empty in less than five minutes. The Astrodome, after several expansions (mostly to stop Houston Oilers owner Bud Adams’ whining), had a seating capacity of 62,000 for football. It would take an hour to get out of the parking lot because of a lack of exits. Parking was cheaper in ancient times, too.” [Houston Chronicle; previously in Swamplot]

5:02 pm | Add a Comment | Read more about Attractions, Historic Preservation, Houston History, Neighborhoods: Reliant Park, Public Buildings, Quicklink
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Friday, February 27, 2009

The AstroLot: Houston’s Newest Transit Hub

February 27, 2009 – 9:27 am
   

Another scene from the active afterlife of the former theme park: “The 150 acre lot formerly known as Astroworld has been empty for a while, but is expected to be packed on Friday when it will be available for rodeo parking. . . . Lighting towers will be brought in and parts of the property not suitable for parking, such as areas with holes in the ground, will be marked off. There will be entrances along the 610 feeder between Kirby and Fannin and exits off of Belfort. After the rodeo, all entrances will be used as exits so all traffic will flow out of the lot. There are only about 12,000 parking spaces on the actual rodeo site. Officials welcome the new 5,000 space parking opportunity. . . . The lot is not paved and is bumpy, two factors that do not bother some rodeo patrons. . . . ‘We think it’s great that people will be able to cross the bridge and it will bring back memories of when Astroworld was here,’ [Andi Devera of the Fazeli Group, owners of the leasing rights] said. The Astrolot opens this Friday.” [abc13; previously]

9:27 am | 2 Comments | Read more about Attractions, Neighborhoods: Reliant Park, Parking, Quicklink, Redevelopment, Tourism, Transportation
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Friday, February 13, 2009

Clear on the Concept: The Astrodome as Movie Studio

February 13, 2009 – 12:36 pm

Still waiting in the wings, the long-promoted but as-yet-unmade proposal to turn the long-vacant Astrodome into a giant indoor movie lot is almost ready for its closeup, says Christine Hall in the Houston Business Journal. Astrodome Studios co-executive directors Elise Hendrix and Cynthia Neely

along with a laundry list of supporters, including “Dazed and Confused” director/writer Richard Linklater, are one month away from presenting a proposal to Harris County that would put a major soundstage and movie production studio into the proclaimed “Eighth Wonder of the World.”

“We would have absolutely everything a creative agency would need to film a movie,” Hendrix says. “With 140,000 square feet, you wouldn’t have any problem building a city in there if you needed to.”

But what would an Astrodome movie studio look like, really? To help unimaginative county officials picture the transformation, Astrodome Studios has prepared the dramatic photo-illustration above, along with a series of similarly rich diagrams:

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12:36 pm | 10 Comments | Read more about Historic Preservation, Neighborhoods: Reliant Park, Proposed Developments, Public Buildings
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Monday, January 19, 2009

Even Better Than Greenspoint: New AstroWorld Festival Office Park!

January 19, 2009 – 6:43 pm

One of Swamplot’s best tipsters forwards a link to a website featuring lovely renderings of a family of glassy office buildings and blocky parking garages squatting on the former AstroWorld site — along with a rather direct question: “Is this real???”

Well, the Crosswell Torian website is a real website, where the development company proudly presents its AstroWorld tower roundup under the name SouthPointe: “a hundred+ acre, transit-oriented mixed use development.” But a brand-new 13.5-million-sq.-ft. project doesn’t exactly seem tailor-made for today’s cautious real-estate market.

If the SouthPointe design isn’t real, though, it’s a brilliant parody — down to the ultra-generic name and its not-so-silent extra vowel. It expertly answers this question: How might a bunch of suburban developers — some of them from, say, Conroe — make a complete mockery of Houston’s highest profile and best connected redevelopment site?

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6:43 pm | 12 Comments | Read more about Commercial Real Estate, Mixed Use, Neighborhoods: Reliant Park, Proposed Developments, Redevelopment, Transportation
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Monday, June 30, 2008

New Development Announced for Former AstroWorld Site

June 30, 2008 – 10:04 am
   

Except this one will last only 4 days and feature Twisted Sister, Broken Teeth, Alice Cooper, and Queensryche. A field day for those of you worried about heavy metals secretly buried in former landfill sites! [Houstonist]

10:04 am | 3 Comments | Read more about Attractions, Neighborhoods: Reliant Park, Quicklink
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Monday, January 28, 2008

Astrodome Future: Whole Lot Brighter Once You Scratch Surface

January 28, 2008 – 12:37 pm

If you were wondering why the four-year effort to redevelop the Astrodome seemed like it was being run by the Keystone Kops, here’s a small piece of information that might start to explain a few things: Michael Surface, who up until a few weeks ago was chairman of the Harris County Sports and Convention Corp., has been indicted on corruption charges:

In order to secure business from the city of Houston, prosecutors allege, Schatte and Surface bribed Monique McGilbra, the city’s director of building services under then-Mayor Lee Brown, and hired her boyfriend, Garland Hardeman, as a consultant.

McGilbra pleaded guilty in 2005 to accepting bribes and has cooperated with prosecutors on the indictment.

According to the indictment, Schatte, 59, and Surface, 47, gave McGilbra free use of Schatte’s California condo, tickets to professional football games and a box containing champagne and $1,000 in cash. They also paid Hardeman more than $40,000 in consulting fees — $7,800 of which he funneled to McGilbra.

This is, of course, the same Michael Surface who decided to run a “competition” for the right to redevelop the Astrodome more than four years ago with this screwy premise: Ideas would only be considered if they were proposed by developers who had experience with projects of a similar size; but developers with experience on projects of a similar size would not be considered unless their ideas were considered acceptable. And yes, he’s the same Michael Surface who kept pushing the “winner” of the competition — Astrodome Redevelopment Corp. — to change its proposal from a space-themed amusement park to a convention hotel. And who gave them, during all that time, exclusive rights to negotiate a deal.

It’s not so surprising that new proposals for the Dome have begun to leak out in the few short weeks since Surface abruptly resigned his HCSCC post.

12:37 pm | Read more about Crime, Development Strategy, Neighborhoods: Reliant Park, Public Buildings
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Thursday, January 24, 2008

At Last! A Stable Future for the Astrodome

January 24, 2008 – 7:39 pm

Stalls at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo

For four years, the fate of the Astrodome has been chained to the proposals of a single company. Those proposals at first went in all sorts of different directions but lately have seemed to be going nowhere. And now, finally, the stewards of the Astrodome’s future have declared that Astrodome Redevelopment’s exclusive right to redevelop the Houston landmark will be coming to an end.

That’s great news, because all that exclusivity and secrecy and incompetence has overshadowed one of the best ideas ever suggested for reusing the Dome — which today can finally be revealed: Let’s turn the Astrodome into . . . horse stables!

Astroturf and tiered stadium seats would give way to more than 1,000 horse stalls and an arena with a capacity of at least 6,000. The vast open area where former Astros stars Jimmy Wynn and Jeff Bagwell hit towering drives would be turned into a three-story exhibition and stalling space, Shafer said.

Isn’t doing time as a livestock storage center the hallmark of a historically significant building? And it will make the next renovation so much more dramatic: “Can you believe it? Before they restored it, they used this thing for horse stables!”

After the jump, some reasons why this plan might have legs.

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7:39 pm | Read more about Attractions, Development Strategy, Historic Preservation, Neighborhoods: Reliant Park, Proposed Developments, Public Buildings
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Monday, December 31, 2007

Telephone Road Walking Tour: Not How They Sang It Was

December 31, 2007 – 11:01 am

Smile Lounge, 4348 Telephone Rd., Houston

Telephone Road south of I-45 has changed forever, declares John Nova Lomax:

Gone is the Mexican Catholic blue-collar neighborhood to the north around Queen of Peace church, its place taken by a string of hot sheet motels, clip joints, massage parlors and other such venues of vice. This is what’s left of the Telephone Road Mark May, Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, Culturcide and others have written songs about.

But it’s all impossibly sadder. The Telephone Road that Earle and Crowell sang about in the rollicking songs of that name is long gone. Crowell’s version is set in the ’50s and early ’60s, and Earle’s in the early ’70s. Today’s Telephone Road far better fits Earle’s “The Other Side of Town.”

There’s more street-level reporting in Lomax and David Beebe’s latest narrated and well-lubricated walking tour, which starts Downtown and heads east along Leeland, through a neighborhood called Edmondson Addition:

Boarded-up hovels line some streets, awaiting inevitable transformation into the (mostly shoddy) condos that are springing up like dandelions here. Other streets reminded us of some of Galveston’s less opulent older districts – one and two-story wood frame houses standing on bricks, interspersed with brick warehouses and workshops.

The story includes Lomax’s encounters with Golfcrest’s underground shopping-cart economy and his retelling of a Telephone Rd. crack-and-hookers tale too uh . . . racy to fit into a song lyric.

After the jump, a very different portrait of Telephone Rd. from an earlier era.

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11:01 am | Read more about Flooding, Houston History, Neighborhoods: Edmondson Addition, Neighborhoods: Golfcrest, Neighborhoods: Telephone Rd
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The Astrodome Loses Its Surface

December 31, 2007 – 9:14 am

After years of visionary stewardship, the man who created the brilliant plan to find a new use for the Astrodome has resigned from his post as chairman of the Harris County Sports & Convention Corporation.

Yeah, it’s a shock and a shame, too. Michael Surface had so many useful connections within the development community and county government.

9:14 am | Read more about Development Strategy, Neighborhoods: Reliant Park
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