Tag: Astrodome

Houston History
12/29/09 11:36am

Landscape History from Above: Exploring 30 Years of Houston Sprawl

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Online Resources, Reliant Park, Sprawl
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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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Comments
04/30/09 11:32pm

Comment of the Day: Astrodome Science Project

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Historic Preservation, Public Buildings, Quicklink, Reliant Park
2 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: ASTRODOME SCIENCE PROJECT “. . . 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]

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Comments
04/23/09 11:47pm

Comment of the Day: The Astrodome Mothball Savings Plan

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Demolitions, Historic Preservation, Public Buildings, Quicklink, Reliant Center
5 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE ASTRODOME MOTHBALL SAVINGS PLAN “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]

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Attractions
04/23/09 1:39pm

County Judge Foresees New Use for Astrodome: Giant Enclosed Space, Shielded from Weather

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Public Buildings, Reliant Park
23 Comments

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

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Critters
04/20/09 2:55pm

Seen on the Street: Need To Get Out More Often

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Hermann Park, Home Decor, Reliant Park, University of Houston
2 Comments

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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Attractions
03/19/09 5:02pm

The Astrodome and the Colosseum

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Historic Preservation, Houston History, Public Buildings, Quicklink, Reliant Park
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THE ASTRODOME AND THE COLOSSEUM 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]

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Historic Preservation
02/13/09 12:36pm

Clear on the Concept: The Astrodome as Movie Studio

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Proposed Developments, Public Buildings, Reliant Park
10 Comments

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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Alief
01/08/09 9:28am

Brays Bayou Flood Control Landscape: Eldridge Hillside Sheep

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Flooding, Parks
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The high point of River Oaks Examiner reporter Rusty Graham’s tour of Project Brays, where flood control is measured in Astrodomes: sheep — on an actual hill — overlooking Brays Bayou flood-reduction projects at the Eldridge Road basin.

The group arrives at the Eldridge detention basin, at the end of Westpark. Harris County Precinct 3 is developing Archbishop Joseph A. Fiorenza Park at the facility, which is about 45 percent complete.

Eldridge is the largest of the four basins, with a total area of 337 acres. Eldridge will hold 1.5 billion gallons of stormwater when complete, or nearly three Astrodomes.

One of the highlights of the trip is seeing the sheep on a large hill on the west side of the Eldridge basin. The 60-foot hill is built from dirt excavated on site.

The sheep lived in the area before the site was purchased, says Heather Saucier, spokeswoman for the flood district. They’re tended by an area resident, although on this day they seem to be doing well enough on their own.

The hill’s summit offers a commanding view of the area, and is especially impressive looking back towards the Uptown area to the east.

Photo: River Oaks Examiner

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Crime
01/28/08 12:37pm

Astrodome Future: Whole Lot Brighter Once You Scratch Surface

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Development Strategy, Public Buildings, Reliant Park
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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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Attractions
01/24/08 7:39pm

At Last! A Stable Future for the Astrodome

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Development Strategy, Historic Preservation, Proposed Developments, Public Buildings, Reliant Park
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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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Development Strategy
12/31/07 9:14am

The Astrodome Loses Its Surface

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Reliant Park
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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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Attractions
11/14/07 10:15am

The Secret Plan To Redevelop the Astrodome

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Development Strategy, Historic Preservation, Hotels, Proposed Developments, Public Buildings, Reliant Park
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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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Attractions
11/09/07 10:28am

Hotel Astrodome: Rides and Hot Air

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Historic Preservation, Hotels, Proposed Developments, Public Buildings, Reliant Park, Tourism
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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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Attractions
11/07/07 8:02am

Dome Redo: Doomed from the Opening Pitch

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Development Strategy, Historic Preservation, Hotels, Proposed Developments, Public Buildings, Reliant Park, Tourism
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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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Attractions
11/01/07 10:22am

Astrodome Redevelopment’s Last, Desperate Gambit: Release Images

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Development Strategy, Historic Preservation, Hotels, Proposed Developments, Public Buildings, Reliant Park, Tourism
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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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