Tag: 77054

Proposed Developments
06/15/10 6:47pm

Latest Astrodome Redevelopment Proposal Features Large Domed Space for People To Mill About, Wondering What To Do with Astrodome

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Public Buildings, Reliant Park, Renovations
23 Comments

Charged with figuring out what to do with the Astrodome, those wacky folks at the Harris County Sports and Convention Corporation have at last identified a viable new use for the aging multipurpose venue. Their idea this time: turn it into . . . a multipurpose venue! Using a $50,000 budget granted by county commissioners, consultants hired by the corporation demonstrated the clear advantages of large-scale design by committee. One actual specific recommendation of the consultants’ report, issued yesterday: A feasibility study, which would — among other things — identify an “overall concept” for the project.

To help communicate their ideas for the space, both the written and PowerPoint versions of the report include several drawings that show large numbers of possibly confused people wandering about pointlessly in and around a revamped Dome:

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Attractions
06/14/10 2:38pm

Comment of the Day: Hoping There’ll Still Be Rides at Whatever Replaces AstroWorld

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Comments, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Reliant Park, Transportation
No Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOPING THERE’LL STILL BE RIDES AT WHATEVER REPLACES ASTROWORLD “They might even put in a sweet gondola system. Or maybe a high-speed, elevated, rail-based shuttle system with small, open-air, 2-to-4 passengers cars to get you from building to building. And maybe they could incorporate some steeply banking curves and a loop or two along the route.” [Benjy Compson, commenting on Green and Wiggly AstroWorld Redevelopment Plan Coulda Been a Contender]

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Cancellations and Delays
06/14/10 8:26am

Green and Wiggly AstroWorld Redevelopment Plan Coulda Been a Contender

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Green Design and Development, Mixed Use, Proposed Developments, Reliant Park
19 Comments

The ambitious mixed-use “eco urban” project shown here — intended for the site of the former AstroWorld — was the idea of a south Florida developer who had the property under contract for an extended period of time, a source tells Swamplot. Called Epicentre Houston, Vantage Plus Corp.’s gargantuan development was meant to be a “city within a city” — combining typical mixed-use elements (1.6 million sq. ft. of shops, 5.2 million sq. ft. of offices, 1500 hotel rooms, and 1840 residences) with 1.9 million sq. ft. of medical space, all within walking distance of Reliant Park, the light-rail line, and the South Loop Sam’s Club.

The developer was scheduled to close on the property approximately 5 months ago, but was unable to, says the source. The 104-acre lot just south of the South Loop has since been sold to Fort Worth developer Michael Mallick, who doesn’t appear to be hiding any fancy renderings of transparent banana-shaped multipurpose buildings up his sleeve.

Oh, but what might have been! More zoomy images of the theme-park redo:

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Buying and Selling
06/11/10 11:06am

AstroWorld in Pieces

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Development Strategies, Land for Sale, Quicklink, Reliant Park
No Comments

ASTROWORLD IN PIECES Want to know what new owner Michael Mallick might do with the former AstroWorld site across the South Loop from Reliant Park? It’s none of your business: “As head of a small private real estate investment group based in Forth Worth, Mallick emphasizes the word ‘private’ and won’t even say if he owns any other properties in Houston. . . . Mallick says he would be just fine if nobody ever knew his group acquired the Astroworld site. But word got out and his phone has been ringing for the past two weeks since the deal was completed. ‘We have a few groups that have come to us that have proposals that want portions of it,’ says Mallick. . . . He’s not sure what will become of the land, but says a decision will probably be made around the end of the year. The group might hold the property for three to five years. Or perhaps sell the entire parcel once the market turns around. Or maybe sell off the defunct theme park in pieces.” [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]

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Comments
06/07/10 3:46pm

Comment of the Day: The Easy AstroWorld Redevelopment Plan

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Quicklink, Redevelopment, Reliant Park
4 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE EASY ASTROWORLD REDEVELOPMENT PLAN “A giant farm. Organic local produce, chickens/eggs, goats for milk. Some cows. A pavilion for events. Call it Astro Village Acres. Moo.” [Miz Brooke Smith, commenting on Comment of the Day: 104-Acre Vacant Former AstroWorld Site Is a Developer’s Dream]

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Comments
06/03/10 4:47pm

Comment of the Day: 104-Acre Vacant Former AstroWorld Site Is a Developer’s Dream

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Commercial Real Estate, Development Strategies, Quicklink, Retail, Shopping Centers, Sprawl
8 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: 104-ACRE VACANT FORMER ASTROWORLD SITE IS A DEVELOPER’S DREAM “Can’t wait to see the giant box rolled in and opened to reveal a strip center with: 1) Starbucks on the corner 2) Bed, Bath & Beyond 3) Borders|Barnes and Noble (choose one) 4) High-end Dentistry office not covered under any mere mortal’s dental plan 5) Wine bar 6) $6 ice cream place 7) vitamin/supplement retailer 8) standard set of strip center restaurants (Chinese, Italian, Tex-Mex deli, etc.) 9) if the place is classy enough, may graduate to having Next Tier of ethnic-themed restaurants (Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, Greek, etc.) 10) Starbucks on the opposite corner” [SL, commenting on Fort Worth Developer Buys Himself an Empty AstroWorld]

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Buying and Selling
06/02/10 4:48pm

Fort Worth Developer Buys Himself an Empty AstroWorld

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Commercial Real Estate, Reliant Park
12 Comments

The 104-acre site of the former AstroWorld amusement park has a new owner: the Mallick Group, a development company out of Fort Worth. But unlike the previous owners, Conroe’s Angel/McIver Interests, Michael Mallick doesn’t appear to have a grand vision for the long-vacant lot. He tells Wall Street Journal reporter Kris Hudson that his company is looking into building “a number of things” on the site — perhaps medical facilities, offices, or apartments.

Angel/McIver bought the property from Six Flags in 2005, shortly after the amusement park across the freeway from the Astrodome parking lot was torn down.

Photo: Click2Houston

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Attractions
05/21/10 10:01am

Showtime in Houston: How Cherry Demolition Sure Would Like To Smash Up the Astrodome

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Demolitions, Historic Preservation, Public Buildings, Quicklink, Reliant Park
38 Comments

SHOWTIME IN HOUSTON: HOW CHERRY DEMOLITION SURE WOULD LIKE TO SMASH UP THE ASTRODOME The last year and a half has been “bleak” for the local demolition industry, says Cherry Demolition’s Mike Dokell. But he’s eager to get his hands on the big one: “Because the Rodeo/Texans can’t use it, and due to the building’s design and current condition, it would be nearly impossible to do anything with the structure. I say wreck it. And, yes, I would want to be involved in the project. Most probably, explosives would be involved in the demolition to some extent. But, there are many features of the structure that would have to be taken down conventionally. The eventual demolition of the Dome would be quite a show, and we at Cherry would love to be part of it.” [Houston Business Journal; previously on Swamplot]

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Comments
05/11/10 1:39pm

Comment of the Day: When Houston Was Rigged

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Hazards, Houston History, Humble, Pierce Junction, Quicklink
2 Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: WHEN HOUSTON WAS RIGGED “The Astrodome is ~1 mile north of the old Pierce Junction Oil Field. Most of the area is industrial, but there are homes along the perimeter of the field where Glenn McCarthy, who later built the Shamrock Hotel, made his first millions. Here’s a link to a 1956 TIME magazine article about the field and issues regarding growth of Houston versus industrial development. If anyone reads the article, I believe the dump it refers to is now a golf course. There are methane candy canes all around it. This is to say nothing of the Humble area. If anyone can find any old aerial photos of Humble online, let me know. I’ve seen them in the past and would like to do an overlay of current use versus prior use.” [J Wilson, commenting on House Shopping in the Chemical Discount Zones: Finding Houston’s Less-Toxic Neighborhoods]

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Attractions
04/13/10 9:46am

Dynamo Stadium Approval Will Draw a Line Around the Astrodome

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Financing, Public Buildings, Quicklink, Reliant Park
16 Comments

DYNAMO STADIUM APPROVAL WILL DRAW A LINE AROUND THE ASTRODOME Included in that Dynamo Stadium deal Harris County commissioners are expected to approve today: A new TIRZ for the Astrodome. “Fixing the Astrodome is not the purpose of the district, but a surge of development in the area could make the Astrodome more attractive as an investment and destination, according to development officials. There are no specific plans on what to do with redevelopment money in the Astrodome district or even an indication that any of it will be spent on the old stadium. County officials say it is not likely that redevelopment money would be used for Astrodome debt payments. Astrodome expenses are covered by a combination of hotel and car rental taxes, parking fees and concessions.” [Houston Chronicle]

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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
7 Comments

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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Pierce Junction
07/31/09 9:22am

Pierce Junction Barbecue Camp

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Proposed Developments, Transportation
13 Comments

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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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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