A Swamplot reader writes in with some identifying info about the Katy homebuilder whose Heights Blvd. townhouse construction collapsed into a pile of sticks over the weekend. The collapse of two 4-story structures under construction shortly after the end of Saturday night’s storm didn’t end up injuring anyone, but it did set back construction and marketing efforts for the Madison Park development just south of White Oak Bayou.
The builder of the toppled properties at 103-117 E. 2nd St., in a corral of townhomes built earlier by another developer, is Keystone Classic Homes, an LLC managed by Michael D. Surface. That appears to be the same Mike Surface who found himself in local headlines a couple of years ago, before and after he admitted to a judge that he intended to influence his longtime friend, Harris County Commissioner Jerry Eversole, with approximately $100,000 in cash and gifts. As part of a plea deal, Surface ended up pleading guilty to filing a false income tax return and making false statements to federal officials in connection with that bribery case, which centered around county contracts; in November 2011 he received a sentence of 2 years’ probation, along with a restriction barring him from being able to do any business with federal, county, or city governments for 5 years.
And then there was Surface’s job on the Astrodome.
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Read more about: 77007, Astrodome, Construction Accidents, Crime, Homebuilders, Houston Heights, Townhomes
With the June 10th deadline to submit the Astrodome proposals that the Harris County Sports and Convention Corporation kind of forgot to ask for approaching, architect Ben Koush pens some poetic support for UH grad student Ryan Slattery’s idea to open the Dome up for public use and reduce it to a shell of itself: “Architects, myself included, often tend to like ‘structure’ and buildings that are under construction better than those that are finished. Even crappy suburban spec houses have a noble purity when they are just a concrete slab and 2x4s, before the pipes, wires, and air-conditioning ducts go in and clutter everything up.” Noble purity notwithstanding, Koush does recognize at least one problem: “Since the Astrodome is essentially in the center of a giant parking lot with gates as well as a long, un-shaded walk discouraging the public from visiting, one wonders who would actually use [it].” [Arts + Culture Houston; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Save the Astrodome
Read more about: 77054, Adaptive Reuse, Astrodome, Houston Landmarks, Parks, Public Space, Stadiums
The Harris County Sports and Convention Corporation this week approved a June 10th deadline for all private proposals to redevelop the Astrodome. That’s a notable event not only because of the somewhat hurried timeframe, but also because the organization appears to have left out a possibly minor step: Formally requesting private proposals to redevelop the Astrodome in the first place.
If that sounds a little odd to you, rest assured this sort of oversight is entirely within character for the 13-year-old quasi-governmental body, whose major achievement has been to shepherd Houston’s most famous building on a steady path from viable sports, entertainment, and celebrity ball-shagging venue to decaying, moldy relic. Hasn’t the corporation been soliciting plans all this time?
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Read more about: 77054, Astrodome, Harris County Government, Houston Landmarks, Public Buildings, Redevelopment, Reliant Park
March 28, 2013 – 10:30 am
Making the rounds this week are a couple more long shots for the Astrodome from people who don’t seem very keen on the 2,500 parking spaces the Texans and Rodeo proposed last week. First, you’ve got Ed Seale and his wife of “Keep the Astrodome,” who say they want to see the ol’ thing renovated into an global bazaar, reports KUHF’s Jack Williams, “a space filled with international, ethnic, cultural and business organizations . . . and ethnic restaurants.” And then there’s the UH graduate student Ryan Slattery, whose friend leaked online parts of his architecture master’s thesis that calls for the big baby to be stripped to a skeleton and used as greenspace: “If you don’t need it,” Slattery tells KHOU’s Jeremy Desel, “it does not need to be there. It is never going to be a stadium again. So you don’t need the seats. You need to take those seats out. Concrete on the facade? You don’t need that.” Adds Slattery: “If and when the Astrodome does come down you will see a grown man cry.” [KUHF; KHOU; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Swamplot inbox
Read more about: 77054, Adaptive Reuse, Astrodome, Houston Landmarks, Office Space, Proposed Developments, Reliant Park, Renovations, Restaurants
The study paid for by the Texans and the Rodeo that found the Astrodome could be torn down and replaced with 2,500 parking spots for $29 million — the one Harris County Judge Ed Emmett said he’s putting on his shelf — has apparently made its way to the desk of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who seems to have crunched the numbers in light of Houston’s impending bid to host the 2017 Super Bowl. Goodell, reports the Houston Chronicle‘s John McClain, says he doesn’t want to get involved in the dome demo drama right before getting involved: “That issue is for the community to decide, but I think having an extra 2,500 parking spaces would enhance Houston’s bid.” [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Russell Hancock
Read more about: 77054, Astrodome, Demolitions, Houston-Texans, Parking-Lots, Quicklink, Reliant Park, Rodeo
March 20, 2013 – 10:00 am
A study paid for by the Houston Texans and the Livestock Show and Rodeo has determined that tearing down the Astrodome will cost a hair more than $29 million, reports Fox 26, but Harris County judge Ed Emmett doesn’t seem all that moved by the study’s finding: “Unless there’s something there I didn’t see when it came across my desk, all I saw were two or three options for how to demolish it and turn it into a parking lot. I know that’s their position. I’m not denigrating it, but that doesn’t really move the ball anywhere.” And what’s Emmett going to do with the study? “Read it and put it on a shelf. . . . It’s not meaningful at all.” [Fox 26; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Candace Garcia
Read more about: 77054, Astrodome, Demolitions, Houston-Texans, Public Buildings, Quicklink, Reliant Park, Rodeo
February 28, 2013 – 2:00 pm
“The Astrodome isn’t some piece of useless garbage that came off an assembly line like the crap sitting on hoarders shelves. What an offensive comment! The Astrodome is a ONE OF A KIND, UNIQUE, IRREPLACEABLE, RARE piece of Houston history. And face it, history is not something Houston has an abundance of. The Astrodome MUST be preserved AT ANY COST! Quit being so cheap for once! Somethings can not be measured in dollars. If the Astrodome was the second indoor mega stadium ever built, or if it had never brought Houston world wide attention that nothing before or since ever did, then maybe I could be on board with demolition. But this is as special to Houston as the Alamo is to San Antonio. The Astrodome is as special to Houston as the Statue of Liberty is to New York. It is as special as anything sitting in the Smithsonian. And it is still here. Tossing the Astrodome in the garbage would be the same as tossing the Wright Brothers airplane in the garbage. Sell it. Mothball it. Sacrifice a Superbowl or two for it. Whatever. Save it for another generation who is smart enough to find a purpose for it.” [Bitch, commenting on Sportswriter: Tearing Down Astrodome Would Help Houston ‘Move On’]
Read more about: Astrodome, Comments, Houston Landmarks, Quicklink
February 28, 2013 – 11:00 am
Depending on which city gets the Super Bowl in 2016, Houston will be vying with either Miami or San Francisco to host the big game in 2017, reports Culturemap’s Chris Baldwin, and Houston’s in great shape to put together an attractive proposal — but there’s still one thing standing in the way: “When the Astrodome opened in 1965, it deserved its Eighth Wonder of the World moniker. It screamed innovation. Now, it screams . . . embarrassment,” Baldwin writes: “There have been more than enough multi-million studies. There is no need to put off a decision yet again. Sometimes, the simplest choice, the most obvious choice, is the best one. Put together a demolition crew. . . . This isn’t Fenway Park. It’s not Wrigley Field. It’s not that old Yankee Stadium that went through all those remodels. It’s a relic that long ago lost its last bit of charm.” And if you want to save the “rotting giant,” Baldwin suggests, you’re “showing as much sense as someone featured on Hoarders.” [Culturemap; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Swamplot inbox
Read more about: 77054, Astrodome, Houston Landmarks, Quicklink, Reliant Park, Sports, Stadiums, Tourism
February 8, 2013 – 3:00 pm
For a charitable nonprofit, Rodeo Houston comes across as a tad indifferent about one of Houston’s neediest causes: CEO Skip Wagner tells the Houston Business Journal‘s Emily Wilkinson that Rodeo Houston is “busting at the seams” and needs more space: “And we’ve got 18 acres that is just wasted right in the heart of Reliant.” What, Wilkinson asks, would Wagner prefer to see happen to the Astrodome?
“Honestly, we don’t care. There are two options — one is tear it down. If so, it would become open area, and we would use it effectively that way. Second, ultimately if they gut it or renovate it, as long as we can use it to put on elements of our show, then we’re fine with that.”
And what about the 48 acres Rodeo Houston bought of the former AstroWorld site across 610? “We could move things like our bus operations over there and expand the presentation footprint (at Reliant),” says Wagner. “We can look at how to use it for its maximum benefit — maybe put in some RV hookups.”
Photo: Candace Garcia
Read more about: 77054, Astrodome, AstroWorld, Commercial Real Estate, Proposed Developments, Rodeo
January 31, 2013 – 3:15 pm
One of Houstonia magazine’s writers, John Nova Lomax, says that Houston, not Austin, ought to be the state capital; “Austin lacks gravitas,” he writes in a Texas Monthly essay this week, laying out his case and making a modest proposal to deal with one of each city’s landmark eyesores: “Slap a statue of Willie Nelson in the Goddess of Liberty’s place atop the granite dome and repurpose it as the Texas Pantheon. Fill it with statues, plaques, and exhibits dedicated to all those exalted icons who were truly Texas cool, and presto: a world-class tourist attraction,” he writes: “As for Houston, well, let’s not forget that it has long been home to a certain Eighth Wonder of the World, now just sitting there running to ruin. The Astrodome’s merits as a seat of government are limitless. It has rail service and ample parking and seating. It has skyboxes in which lobbyists, high above the scrum, could go about their deals. The old ‘exploding’ scoreboard could be reactivated, and we could make state politics a spectator sport. . . . Whenever a legislator started getting a little too grandiose up on the dais, an appointed sinecure (Nolan Ryan?) could power up that bawling, smoking-nosed bull that once thrilled baseball fans. C-SPAN ratings would be off the charts.” [Texas Monthly; previously on Swamplot] Photo: Russell Hancock
Read more about: Astrodome, Public Buildings, Quicklink
November 2, 2012 – 4:56 pm
“It has been about three years since I was V.P. of the company trying to convince Harris County to let us use the Astrodome as a movie production studio. at that time, my research into costs of sprucing up the building’s exterior revealed that plain old pressure washing could make a huge difference in the outside appearance. The company I consulted, specialists at cleaning large scale commercial buildings – like international airports – said it could be done for $500,000 or under. While that is a lot of money to most of us, it is not much compared to the negative P.R. ‘black eye’ that our dirty and forlorn-looking icon gives Houston. If only the Harris County Commissioners, the true stewards of the Dome, would clean up the exterior and do some landscape refreshing perhaps the grand old building would not appear so neglected to the rest of the world. While the interior still has grand promise, if only temporarily as a storage facility, the county should invest in putting the Astrodome’s best ‘face’ forward until its future use is determined. Hardly a day goes by that I don’t read about the Dome in the national media and blogs and it usually includes a negative nod to its appearance. This is something that CAN be done without a referendum!” [Cynthia Neely, commenting on The Astrodome’s New Gig: AstroTurf Storage Warehouse]
Read more about: 77054, Astrodome, Comments, Maintenance, Public Buildings, Real Estate Marketing
Comment of the Day Runner-Up: Bogarting the Astrodome
“The only roadblock to redevelopment of the Dome, as I see it, are two self-interested organizations that are afforded an unwarranted and undeserved say in the matter.” [TheNiche, commenting on Headlines: Itemizing Astrodome Tax Expenses; El Tiempo Cantina Heading South]