Swamplot Archives by Tag:
Astrodome

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.

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12:37 pm | Read more about Crime, Development Strategy, Neighborhoods: Reliant Park, Public Buildings
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
Monday, December 31, 2007

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.

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9:14 am | Read more about Development Strategy, Neighborhoods: Reliant Park
Wednesday, November 14, 2007

The Secret Plan To Redevelop the Astrodome

November 14, 2007 – 10:15 am

Paczki, A Polish Jelly Donut

By now everybody knows the full story about the latest proposal to turn the Reliant Astrodome into a wacky, gondola-and-balloon-filled convention-hotel donut, right? Sure, it took the Astrodome Redevelopment Corporation four years to work out the plan — and okay, the would-be redevelopers might be a little stingy about actually showing anybody what the thing is supposed to look like. But the proposal’s clear enough that when the Rodeo and the Texans say they don’t like the project we know enough about the plan to understand what they’re objecting to. Right?

Well, maybe not.

In the latest installment of the Chronicle’s “Oh, by the way, we failed to mention” series on the latest Dome redo efforts, reporter Bill Murphy drops this little nugget about twenty-three paragraphs in:

The rodeo’s [Chief Operating Officer Leroy] Shafer said he understands that officials in his organization might be viewed as “obstructionists” because of their opposition to the plan. But the public, he said, would understand the rodeo’s stance if officials of the group could speak freely about what they see as the project’s problems. Rodeo officials had to sign confidentiality agreements before they were allowed to review details of the plan.

Hey, Harris County residents should feel lucky: we got to see a drawing of the project without all of us having to sign non-disclosure agreements! If we all promise to sign and keep our mouths shut, can we find out about the project secrets too?

But there’s more:

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10:15 am | Read more about Attractions, Development Strategy, Historic Preservation, Hotels, Neighborhoods: Reliant Park, Proposed Developments, Public Buildings
Friday, November 9, 2007

Hotel Astrodome: Rides and Hot Air

November 9, 2007 – 10:28 am

Gondolas

Hidden in today’s Chronicle update on the Dome’s status are a few more exciting details about the Astrodome Redevelopment Corporation’s still-mysterious plans to remake the former home of the Astros and Oilers into a convention hotel. It’s gonna be like a county fair!

Company CEO John Clanton casually mentions that the new hotel will have seven restaurants and an amusement park, possibly including a ride to “near the top of the Dome,” plus tethered hot-air balloons, a batting cage, and gondolas.

It’s unclear whether Clanton is referring to Venetian-style gondolas for navigating all the new waterways inside, or the kind you see on ski slopes, for crossing the ballfield central fairgrounds. More details on the Astrodome Redevelopment Corp. website!

Oh . . . that’s right. There isn’t one.

After the jump, the real reason County Judge Ed Emmett doesn’t want to demolish the Dome.

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10:28 am | Read more about Attractions, Historic Preservation, Hotels, Neighborhoods: Reliant Park, Proposed Developments, Public Buildings, Tourism
Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Dome Redo: Doomed from the Opening Pitch

November 7, 2007 – 8:02 am

Astros Vs. Expos at the Astrodome, 1992

More high comedy surrounding the Astrodome: Just what is Texans owner Bob McNair’s problem with the proposal to redevelop the Astrodome into a hotel? It’s . . . the hotel!

“A hotel would be in direct conflict with our games and when the rodeo is going on. You can’t tell guests they can’t come to the hotel on Sundays. That wouldn’t be fair to them. It wouldn’t be fair to our fans.

“We’re trying to be open-minded about this. We’re willing to look at anything that doesn’t conflict with our events.”

Now, you’re probably asking yourself: Haven’t the Texans known that the Astrodome Redevelopment Corporation was wanting to turn the Dome into a hotel now for about . . . what, three years? Wouldn’t the two groups maybe have wanted to chat with each other at some point during that period?

Silly you! You’re presuming that the Texans and the Rodeo and the Harris County Sports and Convention Corporation — Reliant Park’s landlords — actually have some intention or incentive to come up with a workable plan to redevelop the Astrodome. And you’re forgetting that turning the Dome into a hotel was an idea pushed early on by . . . the HCSCC’s chairman, Mike Surface! Remember that space-theme amusement-park concept that was so brilliant that the group that proposed it won the “competition” the HCSCC set up four years ago — even over other developer groups that had more experience and deeper pockets? That group was the Astrodome Redevelopment Corporation.

A year later the ARC scrapped its own space-park concept in favor of the convention-hotel complex pushed by the HCSCC. With the Sports and Convention Corporation’s backing, the company worked in secret for three more years to refine the proposal.

Good thing the HCSCC didn’t solicit any alternate proposals during that time. Just think of the confusion that would have caused!

Photo of Astrodome from August 28, 1992: Flickr user j4e0f0f

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8:02 am | Read more about Attractions, Development Strategy, Historic Preservation, Hotels, Neighborhoods: Reliant Park, Proposed Developments, Public Buildings, Tourism
Thursday, November 1, 2007

Astrodome Redevelopment’s Last, Desperate Gambit: Release Images

November 1, 2007 – 10:22 am

Overhead View of Proposed Astrodome Hotel

You know things must be getting desperate for the Astrodome Redevelopment Corporation, which earlier this week suffered the indignity of having two rather important stakeholders come out against the latest incarnation of the company’s tightly guarded, four-years-in-the-making, Frankenstein-inspired proposal for bringing the Dome back to life. When they finally got to see the proposal, “recently,” the Texans and the Livestock Show & Rodeo decided the Astrodome’s new incarnation would be incompatible with their own operations.

But the greatest indication of the redevelopment group’s desperation was revealed just yesterday in local ABC-TV reporter Miya Shay’s blog. That’s right, the Astrodome Redevelopment Corporation is going for broke: The company finally decided to release to the public actual images of its proposal for the county-owned facility!

Yes, it’s a daring strategy to use on a property paid for by local taxpayers, but it just might work.

After the jump: the newly released images of the Astrodome hotel-under-glass!

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10:22 am | Read more about Attractions, Development Strategy, Historic Preservation, Hotels, Neighborhoods: Reliant Park, Proposed Developments, Public Buildings, Tourism
Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Dome and Dumber

October 31, 2007 – 11:46 am

Reliant Astrodome

A funny thing happened on the Astrodome Redevelopment Corp.’s way to, uh . . . redevelop the Astrodome: They forgot to get buy-in on their kitchen-sink proposal from a few important parties:

The $450 million plan to reinvent the Reliant Astrodome as an upscale convention hotel may have hit a wall Tuesday when the Texans and Houston rodeo officials came out against it.

The Texans and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo’s contracts may give them veto power over new development at Reliant Park. Also, a letter of intent signed by the county and Astrodome Redevelopment Corp. requires the company to get the Texans and the rodeo to sign off on the project.

Oops! Hey, it might have been a good idea to ask these folks what they would approve of—before spending four years scheming in their secret design bunker. Just a suggestion . . .

“Not until we saw their plans recently did we realize that this project has the ability to cannibalize our operations,” said Leroy Shafer, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo’s chief operating officer. “Every dollar spent that is spent there is one that might not be spent at the rodeo.”

Jamey Rootes, president of the Houston Texans, said the team was worried that the hotel would hamper the flow of fans in and out of Reliant Park on the team’s 10 game days.

The nerve! The response from Scott Hanson, president of the Astrodome Redevelopment Corp.:

Frankly, we are quite shocked by the Rodeo’s position. We have been working with the Rodeo organization for quite some time and were hopeful that our proposed redevelopment would only enhance their month-long event.

Apparently, “working with” does not include “sharing details of the proposal before it is complete.”

At last, the beauty of the Sports and Convention Corporation’s original plot from a few years ago is revealed: give exclusive rights to flail about in secret in search of a new use for the Dome to a company that, um . . . is really good at being secretive and flailing.

Coming next from those brilliant Dome masters: If these jokers can’t figure out what to do with that thing, maybe no jokers can!

Astrodome photo: Flickr user here_we_are

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11:46 am | Read more about Attractions, Development Strategy, Historic Preservation, Hotels, Neighborhoods: Reliant Park, Proposed Developments, Public Buildings, Tourism
Friday, September 7, 2007

Astrodome Redevelopers: This Time We Really Know What We’re Doing

September 7, 2007 – 10:19 am

Carnival in the Astrodome

The crack team that the Astrodome’s unelected caretakers selected four years ago to redevelop the Houston landmark—for the brilliance of their proposed idea and their ability to make it happen—has changed its concept yet again! This time, though, the secretive group really has got it right. No more Space Theme Park. No more Ye Olde Fake Texas Courthouse Hotel Under Glass. This time, it’s a . . . modernish hotel . . . wrapped by a parking garage . . . with rides . . . and ponds and trees . . . and leftover parts of a ballfield . . . and conventioneers!

A faux Texas courthouse and other features that played on the state’s past are out. Plans now call for including a section of the Dome’s seats, part of the diamond and an overall contemporary design that plays up the building’s cutting-edge nature when it opened in 1965.

“We’re going to have rides. There could be air rides that take you off the ground and make you say, ‘Wow,’ ” said Scott Hanson, president of Astrodome Redevelopment Co., the firm hoping to transform the Dome. “We’re going to have a few of those. They would be easy-going rides that would show off the venue.”

Brilliant! Now, all they’ll have to do is convince five county commissioners in secret session, and the private takeover of a public stadium county taxpayers have paid billions of dollars for will be complete.

Astrodome carnival photo: Flickr user Jeff Balke

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10:19 am | Read more about Attractions, Development Strategy, Historic Preservation, Hotels, Neighborhoods: Reliant Park, Proposed Developments, Public Buildings, Tourism
Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Building Tissue Donated for New Organ Donation Facility

August 28, 2007 – 10:38 am

New Headquarters Building for LifeGift, Viewed from Lantern Pt. Drive

How fitting: The former St. Catherine’s Montessori School across from a Reliant Stadium parking lot is gone, but its spirit will live on. The school itself now has a new location on the other side of the South Loop, but the concrete bones of the “castle-like” building it left behind at 2510 Westridge will be . . . reused!

That’s right, organ-donation organization LifeGift will be spending $7 million to graft new space onto the existing structure, which will be renovated and kept alive presumably with an infusion of stucco. The completed building will be the organization’s 26,000-square-foot headquarters. A new blue-glass prosthesis will connect it to a parking lot along Lantern Point Dr. and serve as the front entrance. Among the features inside: LifeGift offices, an organ-donation education center, and operating rooms for onsite tissue extraction and organ recovery.

Let’s hope the transplant is successful. But really, this is nothing new for the patient: Before it became a school, the building was a firearms museum.

After the jump, more views of the bionic building from m Architects and Burwell Architects.

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10:38 am | Read more about Development Strategy, Institutional Buildings, Medical Buildings, Neighborhoods: Reliant Park, Neighborhoods: Texas Medical Center, New Construction, Proposed Developments, Renovations
Friday, April 13, 2007

Finally, a Real Vision for the Astrodome: Year-Round Ski Park

April 13, 2007 – 9:48 am

Rendering of Proposed Coolzone Winterplex Park

Here’s the concept: a 20-story mountain for skiing and snowboarding, surrounded by a pseudo-Alpine village. Gondolas carry skiers from the mountain to a ski lodge.

Skiers and snowboarders would slide down the mountain on a slippery carpeted surface called Snowflex, which imitates the properties of snow. A misting system embedded in the carpet surface maintains its slipperiness.

Snowflex is a multilayered hydrogenated (yes, hydrogenated) white mat developed in Great Britain. Think Astroturf for snowboards. The park

. . . would also feature ice skating on a synthetic surface that requires no refrigeration, luge rides on a synthetic-ice surface and a field of manmade snow for playing.

Mist-blowing fans would cool the area by about 20 degrees.

Sounds pretty exciting, huh? Well, we were just kidding about the Astrodome part. This thing isn’t headed for Houston at all. It’s called the Coolzone Winterplex, and it’s proposed for Fort Worth, on about 150 acres of yet-to-be-determined prairie: “the world’s first year-round, indoor-outdoor winter sports theme park.”

With all those compound-adjective qualifiers, you can guess there are probably already several indoor or outdoor or partial-season parks like this somewhere.

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9:48 am | Read more about Attractions