35 minutes ago, tigereye said:

Thank you Amtrak. If you’re able to make this happen and the Houston stop is at Northwest Mall, just move the current Amtrak station downtown serving the Sunset Limited line to the new Northwest Mall station. That just makes sense. Better connectivity with better facilities equals better business potential for both lines. 

Any chance we can make NW Mall station intermodal with a bus station serving all national carriers (Greyhound, MegaBus, FlixBus, etc)? Then combine this a Metro Transit Center serving Silver Line & Inner Katy BRT and a bus transit center. A complete national & regional ground transportation hub… all connected by multiple highways surrounding Northwest Mall. This should exist in reality. 

16 hours ago, monarch said:

^^^ i see you, and i can certainly comprehend your sentiment here @tigereye  however, my initial statements were never a lesson in HOUSTON SPORTS VENUE GEOGRAPHY.  my initial sentiment was, is... always regarding the actual QUALITY, PLANNING, and CONSTRUCTION of the actual VENUES themselves.  you have initiated a very eloquent illustration of the GEOGRAPHICAL attributes regarding houston's said venues.  however, the geographical or CLOSENESS of the venues inside HOUSTON PROPER, doesn't necessarily mean that these venues are indeed qualitative and world class.  their not.

IMO, all of our current sporting venues SUCK... except for the SHELL ENERGY STADIUM.  the new ownership of SHELL ENERGY STADIUM, harbor no issues with taking the full initiative, and maintaining their respective WORLD CLASS stadium with full qualitative... EVERYTHING.  the stadium is simply MAGNIFICENT.  brilliant in design, construction, and overall quality... and is obviously aging quite gracefully.  now THIS... is what my initial sentiment regarding houston's sporting venues is all about...

While I would agree that geographical locations of venues don’t have anything to do with the quality of the actual building, location can play a vital role in the overall experience. In Houston’s case, it provides the opportunity to build a vibrant neighborhood Downtown and we already have several key building blocks in place with more development coming. A lot of us experienced that first hand this week during Final Four Fan Fest at Discovery Green as the Astros kicked off Opening Day Weekend and the Rockets hosted the Lakers, all within walking distance of each other. Downtown was vibrant this weekend. 

As for the venues themselves, I disagree with all of them sucking. Minute Maid Park is very underrated in that it’s one of only 2 ballparks in the world with a high low retractable roof rail track design that results in a 3 dimensional opening when the roof is retracted, offering unobstructed skyline views that most retractable roofed stadiums simply can’t match. The only other ballpark to do this is its pseudo-twin that opened around the same time (July 1999), Seattle’s T-Mobile Park, which is consistently rated as one of the best parks in baseball. This is an example of great design that later retractable roof parks should have followed but simply couldn’t due to rising costs. Also compare MMP & T-Mobile Park’s high-low roof rail design to other retractable roofed park that opened around the same timeframe: Phoenix’s Chase Field (1998) & Milwaukee’s Miller Park (2000). I think you’ll agree Houston got a great designed ballpark for a fairly low budget. We got lucky here. 

Meanwhile NRG Stadium was ahead of its time as a retractable roofed facility never before seen in the NFL when it debuted in 2002. It may have aged and been passed up by newer venues with more outlandish designs like LA’s SoFi Stadium but it still consistently attracts large events like this week’s Final Four, College Football National Championship Game in 2024, and the World Cup in 2026. It’s not as bad as FedEx Field or FirstEnergy Stadium or any other venue built in the timeframe it debuted. It has good bones and with its lease expiration approaching, it will be interesting to see how the Texans and Rodeo renovate to keep up with Mercedes-Benz Stadiums of the world today. (I’d guess this might occur sooner ahead of the World Cup, FIFA doesn’t allow World Cup matches on turf so NRG will need to install grass by 2026) 

And this leads to my final point. Venues  can always be renovated into something even better. And with the end of Toyota Center’s lease due within ten years, we’ll likely see a major renovation of TC as part of a deal to extend the lease. The question is what work will be done? Could it be a dramatic new glass exterior facade like Cleveland’s Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse or interior upgrades like what Atlanta did at State Farm Arena? We shall see…

On 3/29/2023 at 8:50 PM, monarch said:

^^^ our fair city of houston, tx, is constantly ESPOUSING TO THE ENTIRE WORLD that "we are the fourth largest city in america".  yet we constantly allow for the greater dallas metropolitan areas to constantly OUTCLASS us with their WORLD CLASS sporting facilities/venues... along with their WORLD CLASS hospitality developments.  everyone of their state-of-the-art sporting venues, totally outclasses anything that the greater houston areas have to date.  EVERYONE!  heck, isn't dallas supposed to be the more conservative city?  houston always seems to be coming from behind and playing catch-up to the dallas metro areas.  heck, as we all know, THEY REALLY DID NOT NEED A BRAND NEW BALLPARK FOR THE RANGERS... RIGHT?  yet, here we are, they now harbor a brand spanking new state-of-the-art venue, along with a MAGNIFICENT NEW mixed-use baseball entertainment district with gorgeous new hospitality facilities.  yet, here is the TWO-TIME WORLD CHAMPION ASTROS owner JIM CRANE, espousing/dreaming/planning to the media about finally bringing forth concepts/renderings and possibly "breaking ground sometimes at the end of the year".  as long as i live, i shall never comprehend this fact.

PRIME EXAMPLE of just what i'm speaking of:  the city of houston, utilizes taxpayer funds to construct a state-of-the-art retractable roof football venue for their newly proposed HOUSTON TEXANS football team.  finally, this gorgeous new facility is completed and is introduced as a marvel of engineering to the entire nation/world.  (heck, although, i LOVED the overall design of the new venue) I REALLY HATED THE FACT THAT I KEPT THINKING THAT THE NEW VENUE WAS CONSTRUCTED MUCH TOO SMALL... TO HEREBY REMAIN VIABLE, WITH THE EVER EVOLVING NFL SUPER BOWL ROTATION.  subsequently, dallas comes along and constructs their HUGE EXPENSIVE MAGNIFICENT NEW STATE-OF-THE-ART FOOTBALL VENUE and TOTALLY OUTCLASSES THE HOUSTON FACILITY.  hereby, making it appear smaller and meek by comparison.  therefore, currently, the NFL is expressing that in order for houston to hereby remain viable in the SUPER BOWL ROTATION, NRG STADIUM IS GOING TO HAVE TO BE TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY REIMAGINED AS A FOOTBALL VENUE.  why on earth, couldn't they just construct the DAMN FACILITY right in the first place...?  

I’m going to disagree here. Sure, most sports venues in DFW might be a better quality design on their own as an individual building. But Houston actually has a much better master plan for all of the venues as a whole. MMP, Toyota Center, and She’ll Energy Stadium are all situated within a few blocks of each other. Discovery Green is directly in the middle of all of this, like a uniting force between all of these venues, something I used heavily during the Final Four Fan Fest (air conditioned main hall). And soon a whole freeway will go underground, stitching these areas together. With the potential for mixed use development by the Astros (and maybe the Rockets) all of the elements are coming together to build an active sports, convention, and entertainment district that not many cities in America can boast having. 

Also having NRG Stadium 7 miles away (still technically inside the loop) connected by rail is a much better setup then Arlington is for the Cowboys and Rangers being 20 miles from Dallas, 15 miles from FTW with no mass transportation at all. Arlington taxpayers will pay for new sports venues but paying for mass transit options is too big of an ask, which seems beyond ludicrous. 

On 3/30/2023 at 3:12 AM, HOUCAJUN said:

Maybe Houston should relook at venue locations in the future and head for the suburbs to get things done sooner. I personally prefer having venues in the city core but what is Houston's Arlington and Frisco? I believe Jerry World was originally planned for Fair Park but failed then Arlington bailed him out. Less red tape.

Nope urban core is better, more centrally located for everyone in the region.

Jerry Jones original idea for Cowboys Stadium was Downtown Dallas along the Trinity River south of Cedars along Riverfront Blvd. It would’ve been a good site, maybe better for a Downtown Ballpark (more dates to fill). Then Mayor Laura Miller killed that idea and IMO, it’s a big loss.

The Fair Park idea was an attempt to renovate the Cotton Bowl stadium into a domed stadium by using money from the Cowboys to fund the project. But when the Downtown site died, Jerry took has ball and offered it to all of the competing bedroom communities to see who would give him the best deal. Of course, it was Arlington. 

On 3/30/2023 at 4:23 AM, staresatmaps said:

The only thing European about Shell is the outside shell which is fairly unique. Everything else is American. Roof only on 2 halves, and a concert roof. Unheard of in Europe. 2 tiers where the lower tier is very small. Very rare in Europe until recently. Full connecting walk around concourse. Very very rare in Europe. Bars looking over the field wasting space where seats could be. Unheard of in Europe. Now there are 2 new things added last year, one which is European(Safe Standing), and one which is super American(Table seats).

Incorrect. Shell Energy Stadium is designed by Christopher Lee, the architect of such venues as Emirates Stadium (Arsenal), Millennium Stadium (Cardiff), Aviva Stadium (Dublin), BBVA Bancomer (Monterrey Rayados). AEG did us a favor to tab him as the lead architect. But AEG also screwed us by applying budget constraints on a new venue for a franchise they were already actively selling in the market. The budget constraints limited what Lee could do, like having a full roof (the original design) 

That said, the tessellated mesh exterior might look European but the bigger design influence is the German style rounded bowl (i.e. Allianz Arena, Veltins Arena) Shell Energy Stadium has, in a league where you see more American style (MLS 1.0) and faux English style (MLS 3.0) venues. The only German style bowls like Shell Energy Stadium are Red Bull Arena (NJ) and TQL Stadium (Cincy) 

On 3/30/2023 at 9:52 AM, CREguy13 said:

I know this is off topic from MMP, but to expand on my above comment: imagine if there were some movement behind the scenes to build a brand new state-of-the-art downtown arena to officially lure away the NHL Coyotes to Houston? 

Phoenix is trying to block Tempe's plans for a new stadium, as the Coyotes are currently playing in ASU's arena that seats 4600 people... A brand new stadium could close the deal, if things have been quietly progressing.

NHL, NBA, MLB, MLS all downtown? One can dream!

Article from yesterday:

https://frontofficesports.com/phoenix-looks-to-block-tempes-2-1b-deal-with-coyotes/

Phoenix has long had issues with the Tempe Town Lake site. In the early 2000’s, the Cardinals planned to build a retractable roofed football stadium in this same site (Rio Salado Crossing), only for Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport to kill the plans due to runway clearance concerns. The Cardinals then ended up way out west in Glendale, AZ, coincidentally next to the Coyotes arena and Westgate development. And now Coyotes are now revisiting the old Cardinals proposed Rio Salado stadium site 20 years later and of course Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport has already voiced their objections, causing architects to limit the height of the Coyotes proposal. It’s like a game of musical chairs and now the city of Phoenix has voiced their opposition too. Proposition 301, 302, and 303 are set to vote on May 16th and there’s plenty of opposition. 

On 4/1/2023 at 6:47 AM, HoustonMidtown said:

Ken Hoffman takes a swing at Houston Astros' pitch to build a new downtown hotel

https://houston.culturemap.com/news/city-life/ken-hoffman-takes-a-swing-at-houston-astros-pitch-to-build-a-new-downtown-hotel/?utm_source=hot-headlines&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=website

 

This is an awful take with no information. A fluff piece to generate hits. This city needs better media personalities. 

23 hours ago, Nate99 said:

The Coyotes are a basket case of a club. Their owner wants to get in on a big mixed use deal that is part of the Tempe stadium plans, so he's all-in on that. I don't know if the NHL could force a sale, but they should, the guy can't manage to find a major league caliber venue. Seems like that would be a condition of franchise ownership.  The ASU venue they use has half the seating capacity of the Tuscon arena that their AHL affiliate uses. 

That said, Seattle and Vegas have done really well, the league may be up for more expansion. 

You have to understand the situation. The Coyotes are trying to pull the same maneuver the Atlanta Braves did with Cobb County, move closer to their season ticket base in East Valley. Glendale isn’t a problem for the Cardinals because there’s only 10 home dates in the calendar year counting preseason. For the Coyotes, the ask of their fans is much larger, with at least 42 home dates to travel way out west to Glendale for. It makes sense for them to be in Phoenix or Tempe. But Robert Sarver (former Suns owner) killed the Phoenix option when he elected to renovate Talking Stick arena, a basketball only configured bowl and extend the lease, rather than partner with Yotes on an NBA/NHL arena in Downtown Phoenix. They Coyotes even had an opportunity to build with ASU but the Sun Devils elected to build Mullett Arena on their own, which funny enough is where the Coyotes are now, a 5,000 seat college hockey arena. Also, the Coyotes didn’t help themselves in the eyes of other communities when they stuffed Glendale, AZ on lease payments for their arena, which ultimately got them homeless in the first place

There’s also the fact that Coyotes owner is Alex Merulo, owner of SLS Las Vegas (formerly the Sahara) and Grand Sierra Casino in Reno. He also owns a sports book license in AZ and may Perdue a casino as part of his plans. 

On 3/26/2023 at 7:16 PM, freundb said:

With the NHIIP getting the go ahead, and the Eado cap, there should be more room for an Astros district.

I think that’s the city’s plan already for the caps over trenched 59/45, post NHHIP. They’ve discussed it before. See below. 

On 11/9/2021 at 9:17 AM, tigereye said:

Just as a reminder, the Downtown TRIZ’s plans for on cap development, post 59 reroute. See pages 61-69 for EaDo Ramble. 

http://www.downtowntirz.com/downtownhouston/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/08-11-20-Board-Book-FINAL.pdf

Calling my shot here: The next addition to our skyline will be this highrise from the Astros. A 3 year build schedule for a 4-Star hotel on a small site leads me to this conclusion. I’ll guess 40 stores (hotel + residences)