BigFootsSocks Posted April 13, 2015 Share Posted April 13, 2015 "Technically" yes, but the marketing behind this was to "save the dome!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted April 14, 2015 Share Posted April 14, 2015 It's been abandoned for what? 12years?IMO, It is now time to decide: bulldoze it or re-develop it. Failing the later, the former should be done with deliberate speed. I don't know. What's suddenly the rush? After having sat vacant for a dozen years another decade isn't going to hurt anything. Maybe that will be enough time for someone to figure out a plausible use for the thing. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFootsSocks Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 It's a sign of an age long ago deemed unnecessary and forgotten. Build something in its place that can at least memorialize it, while adding some sort of value to it. Like a park. I liked that proposal the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cspwal Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 What if they cleaned the skylights off to let as much sun in as possible and just made it a huge indoor park? Complete with grass, trees, squirrels... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminare Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 What if they cleaned the skylights off to let as much sun in as possible and just made it a huge indoor park? Complete with grass, trees, squirrels... Ummmm.....maybe you might want to read the past few pages of the thread Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cspwal Posted April 15, 2015 Share Posted April 15, 2015 Ummmm.....maybe you might want to read the past few pages of the thread Of course someone would have already suggested that - that's what I get for jumping in on the end of a thread without doing the required reading Some fascinating gems just from a history stand point since I wasn't in Houston when the thread started - one comment said something about an urban development at Fannin South? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADCS Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 Read an article talking about demolishing both the Dome and Reliant in about 7-8 years. One of the commentators suggested rebuilding the complex as a "new Astrodome" for the Texans and the Rodeo, with as many bells and whistles as the original had. While it seems silly to demolish Reliant after only 20 years, that seems to be the trend these things are going nowadays. The above is a demolition plan that I would support. If Yankee Stadium can be torn down for a similar replacement, so can the Dome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryDierker Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 this is why we can't have nice things.^ 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 Read an article talking about demolishing both the Dome and Reliant in about 7-8 years. One of the commentators suggested rebuilding the complex as a "new Astrodome" for the Texans and the Rodeo, with as many bells and whistles as the original had. While it seems silly to demolish Reliant after only 20 years, that seems to be the trend these things are going nowadays. The above is a demolition plan that I would support. If Yankee Stadium can be torn down for a similar replacement, so can the Dome. Do you have a link to the article? I'd love to see it. It's not surprising at all that the owners would start pushing to replace Reliant after 20 years. That's pretty much standard operating procedure nowadays (ask the folks in St Louis, if you don't believe me). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFootsSocks Posted May 2, 2015 Share Posted May 2, 2015 If they ever replace NRG Stadium, I hope the place it downtown and make it more like an indoor version of the Seattle Seahawks stadium. I love the way that stadium frames Seattle's skyline between the stands - kind of like what's going on at UH's new stadium but better.BTW, the Astrodome is not like Yankee Stadium. Sure, they played baseball in both of them and people loved them a long time ago, but that's where it ends. The Astrodome was much more than a stadium.• It revolutionized all professional sports. • It revolutionized modern architecture.• It was a globally recognized icon (in it's day) and could be again in the future.• It is the closest thing Houston has to a culturally significant historical landmark.• It is a vast indoor space that can be repurposed into anythingI hate the Yankees as much as the next guy, but i can't quite fathom how a cultural landmark is somewhat beneath a giant monolith to a long-dead concrete age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samagon Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 I'm tired of paying for stadiums so a team can become more rich, while I struggle to find the game being televised on a channel I have access to. I know this isn't an issue today with football, as it is televised on broadcast channels, but with the baseball and basketball stadium, it should be written into any future deals that if there is going to be funding provided by county residents that the games be televised on local broadcast channels. Otherwise, they can pay for the stadium themselves. As for the dome, if it gets far enough down the road and there's a question of spending 200 million in tax money to renovate the dome or 200 million in tax money to build a park over the 45/59/288 freeway canyon near downtown, I'd see the dome razed in a second and the park be built over the freeway canyon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminare Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 (edited) I'm tired of paying for stadiums so a team can become more rich, while I struggle to find the game being televised on a channel I have access to. I know this isn't an issue today with football, as it is televised on broadcast channels, but with the baseball and basketball stadium, it should be written into any future deals that if there is going to be funding provided by county residents that the games be televised on local broadcast channels. Otherwise, they can pay for the stadium themselves. As for the dome, if it gets far enough down the road and there's a question of spending 200 million in tax money to renovate the dome or 200 million in tax money to build a park over the 45/59/288 freeway canyon near downtown, I'd see the dome razed in a second and the park be built over the freeway canyon. Maybe you could bring down the emotional level a bit? When did this get to the point where we are talking about sports teams? Unless the sports team is going to be made up of park rangers working at the dome 1. It isn't a conincendence that the timing of the announcement of the I-45 reroute also came just slightly after the recent change of US59 to I-69. Both of these events are directly connected. The transition of US59 to I-69 means that the highway will now not only have access to more state funding but also federal funding. Reroutes and highway expansions are not ever put up for a vote for a very good reason. We would have zero tollways if this was the case. Not to mention the recent victory for the proposition to reroute more funding to highway projects means that the public was willing to do whatever it takes to fix highways. The amount reallocated was somewhere in the tune of $3 billion! To say they have enough funding for this sort of work is a bit of an understatement. The only power the public has in these matters anyway is input into the design of the freeway and concerns about connections...thats it. With all that being said this means that any money which will be dedicated to this reroute is coming from an entirely different revenue stream and bank account. This leads into 2. The logic of this statement assumes that all funding for every single project in every single department at every single scale is directly tied to one revenue stream or even one primary account. I'm certainly not an expert, but I think its reasonable to assume that this isn't how things work. I mean look at the projects which Houston has not only proposed but is moving forward with. We are talking about 100's of millions of dollars! You have all these different bayou beautification projects, improvements to downtown, expansion of lightrail, master plan of Memorial Park, Hermann Park renovations (notice the pattern when it comes to parks!), etc... Btw the only reason why past efforts to renovate the dome where put to a vote was because the dome wasn't owned by the city, but by Harris County which in order to use public tax money would need approval from those very citizens who live in said county. This project is also going to be a private/public partnership meaning it will get a substantial amount of money from other sources besides taxes. I think the best course of action is that the Dome should be handed over to the City of Houston as Harris County hasn't really been a good owner of the stadium because they don't have the proper funds to maintain it. In conclusion, city projects don't work on a docket type system where we can't work on one until it comes up. Cities can work on multiple projects at once and they won't tie funding for one project with the other (who would even do this? That person would be insane, or really sucks at creating a budget!). Both projects can even be worked on at the same time while using different revenue sources. I also simply take issue with the motivation for your argument because you are simply substituting the hard choice with an easier choice for your mind replacing one which is governed by logic to one which is governed by emotion. Surely you can do better than that dude! Edited May 4, 2015 by Luminare Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samagon Posted May 4, 2015 Share Posted May 4, 2015 Sorry, I didn't make it clear, but I was responding to ADCS post of 22 April and rebuilding reliant. It wasn't so much a direct response, but more "why do I have to keep paying for these boondogles?" for me, when the soccer stadium was built using private funding (outside of the money used for infrastructure enhancement), that's when I turned a corner on spending tax dollars for sports teams. anyway, maybe not really relevant to this thread 100%, but I tried to bring it back around to 'dome discussion... Regarding funding for the I45 redo, it was stated in the I45 proposal that the park over 45/59/288 would be funded separately, not by state/fed taxes, which means it will probably come down to city money. Considering we have to vote for every other big budget item, why would this park be any different? So that's why I said what I did, and if I'm given a choice of saving the dome at 200 million from local taxes, or building a park over the freeway canyon for 200 million from local taxes, I'll vote down the dome and up the park. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trymahjong Posted May 5, 2015 Share Posted May 5, 2015 Soooooo what's up with Ed Emmett and his Germany trip making all three local news broadcasts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbannizer Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 Another plan is forming to save the dome: http://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/A-new-plan-emerges-to-save-the-Astrodome-6411294.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminare Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 I think this is more dealing with how to finance the project rather than a completely new deal. I'm not completely sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 Based on the views in the Arabella drone video, this is looking a lot better after power washing and repainting. Can anyone confirm? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted September 16, 2015 Share Posted September 16, 2015 Based on the views in the Arabella drone video, this is looking a lot better after power washing and repainting. Can anyone confirm? Yes, it looks a lot better after the power washing and painting. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H-Town Man Posted September 19, 2015 Share Posted September 19, 2015 Haha, thanks. I meant, could anyone who has been over there elaborate on how it looks, beyond the low-res view in the video? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigFootsSocks Posted September 19, 2015 Share Posted September 19, 2015 That's some grade-A quality snark that this place needs more of Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lockmat Posted October 24, 2015 Share Posted October 24, 2015 So are we expecting an answer soon? Super Bowl is getting closer... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted November 3, 2015 Share Posted November 3, 2015 So are we expecting an answer soon? Super Bowl is getting closer... I don't think the Super Bowl is very relevant to the future of the Astrodome. I don't think anyone expects anything to be done in time for the Super Bowl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbannizer Posted January 26, 2016 Share Posted January 26, 2016 County to Conside Under-the-Dome Options A dozen Astrodome enthusiasts from business and government have been meeting over the past year to hash out a plan for converting the aging landmark into an indoor park. As those discussions continue, Harris County Commissioners Court will vote Tuesday on one piece of the Astrodome revival that needs to happen whether or not the park plan is achieved, according to County Judge Ed Emmett.Commissioners will consider seeking an internal cost assessment for building two floors of underground parking, or a large underground storage facility, beneath the ground floor of the Astrodome.In July, Emmett proposed establishing a philanthropic conservancy - akin to the ones that developed Discovery Green and Hermann Park, two of Houston's most popular destinations - to fund an indoor park and, eventually, six floors of retail space above the ground level. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOUCAJUN Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Underground storage facility? This guy is nuts. They really don't know what to do with the Dome and Ed Emmett is to prideful to admit it.Shame on him. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OkieEric Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 (edited) Underground storage facility? This guy is nuts. They really don't know what to do with the Dome and Ed Emmett is to prideful to admit it.Shame on him. I don't see why this is so crazy. It seems that they are going to want to raise the floor up, regardless, so might as well make it useful. If you want to bulldoze the whole thing and create yet more acres and acres of parking you are probably on the wrong forum Currently the HLSR stores all sorts of portable buildings and whatever else on the former Astroworld site. As aesthetically pleasing as that is from 610, I'd certainly prefer them to store that crap somewhere hidden away (if that is indeed the intent). An underground parking garage would be nice but there is obviously no shortage of parking around NRG If Emmett's plan is to introduce modestly incremental uses for the dome, at low (?) cost, then I'm all for it. Start with parking/storage/whatever, which gives a more useful floor space for other events. I don't see any demand for 6 floors of retail at that spot but I don't think it would take much to at least improve the appearance of the dome. I'll take a powerwashed dome over another parking lot any day Edit: I just had to add this pic - yep, this is Kirby and 610, not some shot of the Gatorfest (no offense, I had fun there) or any other festival aftermath, this is seriously what it looks like all of the time. UT is paying $200 million for 300 acres of land less prime than this. I don't know what's more irritating, the fact that HLSR has so much money that they can use this land to just throw their extra crap, or that they have made absolutely no attempt (through, I dunno, trees, vines, shrubbery, anything) to hide this mess: Edited February 2, 2016 by OkieEric 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 County to Conside Under-the-Dome Options Six levels of retail? There's absolutely no way that makes sense in this location. Where do they see the demand for that much retail inside the Astrodome? These guys are smoking their own dope, as the expression goes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparrow Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Six levels of retail? There's absolutely no way that makes sense in this location. Where do they see the demand for that much retail inside the Astrodome? These guys are smoking their own dope, as the expression goes. I disagree. Creating a mall, with a several acre indoor recreational park, including underground parking, inside a historical landmark, built in a densifying, high tourist area next to a mass transit line seems like a fantastic idea to me. Perhaps this will be the impetus to de-parking lot the NRG complex and create parking garages and hotels. No one wants to stay in a hotel surrounded by a sea of parking lots, but provide a CityWalk type of shopping experience and suddenly you have a tourist magnet on your hands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 Six levels of retail? There's absolutely no way that makes sense in this location. Where do they see the demand for that much retail inside the Astrodome? These guys are smoking their own dope, as the expression goes. The better question is "what are you smoking?", to be taking anything in the Chronicle at face value. As far as I can tell, there is no plan for "six levels of retail." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uscats35 Posted February 3, 2016 Share Posted February 3, 2016 (edited) I suggest a laser show on the weekends at the dome, like the one that is shown on stone mountain in georgia. I also suggest a New Year's countdown using a rocket to bring in the new year with the largest party in the metro inside. The rocket can be on top of the dome and paid admission to enter can help it bring in revenue. Should i forward this ideal on? Edited February 3, 2016 by uscats35 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cspwal Posted February 3, 2016 Share Posted February 3, 2016 The rocket New Year's idea sounds great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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