If Astrodome was on the ballot to be demolished... (Houston: sale, real estate)

[Matadora]

I personally have no attachment to the dome even though I lived in Houston for 43 years and attended many events there during those years. I took my nephew to the Rodeo Carnival and Cook-off last week and we rode the Ferris wheel. As I looked at the dome in the background it looked dead and soulless. It looked out of place and just ugly. I personally think it would be best to tear it down.

[Astoriahoney]

Astrodome is iconic. They need to restore it completely. Especially for Summer Olympics 2032

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by hbcu

no more political language - everyday language.

Do you want the Dome to remain intact as it is or DEMOLISHED, CRUSHED, TORN DOWN ASAP.

You mean, the way they did with the 2012 rail referendum?


Harris County Confusing Metro referendum question

METRO 2012 General Mobility Program Referendum

“The continued dedication of up to 25% of Metro’s sales and use tax revenues for street improvements and related projects for the period October 1, 2014 through December 31, 2025 as authorized by law and with no increase in the current rate of Metro’s sales and use tax.”

For =
Against =

[Texyn]

Originally Posted by Astoriahoney

Astrodome is iconic. They need to restore it completely. Especially for Summer Olympics 2032

Agreed. I posted a plan the page before that I feel is better than any that have come about thus far.

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by Astoriahoney

Astrodome is iconic. They need to restore it completely. Especially for Summer Olympics 2032

Houston will never have an Olympics. Not 2032, not ever.

It barely pulls off the Super Bowl, for starters.

Then there's the fact that IOC will never come back to the US Sun Belt after Atlanta. Take the same extreme summer heat with some extra humidity, and the same mobility charlie-foxtrot nightmare likely fivefold by 2032. And then somebody in the selection committee might point out that around the time the Games would happen, that something like a massive hurricane or an apocalyptic flood like that one in August of 2017 (assuming there isn't another in the next 14 years) that could happen in the two-plus weeks you have the entire world assembled in one spot. Miami will never host an Olympics either, for the same reason.

Furthermore Houston has nothing to offer that Los Angeles does not, and LA is the only city in America capable of hosting a Summer Olympics and make it anything other than a gigantic money pit with new arenas built with no permanent tenant - and this topic just happens to exist because of one.

[Mr. Clutch]

Originally Posted by jfre81

Houston will never have an Olympics. Not 2032, not ever.

It barely pulls off the Super Bowl, for starters.

Then there's the fact that IOC will never come back to the US Sun Belt after Atlanta. Take the same extreme summer heat with some extra humidity, and the same mobility charlie-foxtrot nightmare likely fivefold by 2032. And then somebody in the selection committee might point out that around the time the Games would happen, that something like a massive hurricane or an apocalyptic flood like that one in August of 2017 (assuming there isn't another in the next 14 years) that could happen in the two-plus weeks you have the entire world assembled in one spot. Miami will never host an Olympics either, for the same reason.

Furthermore Houston has nothing to offer that Los Angeles does not, and LA is the only city in America capable of hosting a Summer Olympics and make it anything other than a gigantic money pit with new arenas built with no permanent tenant - and this topic just happens to exist because of one.

While I tend to agree with most of your take on the Olympics, the idea that we can barely pull off the Super Bowl is absurd. Houston is widely seen as one of the better Super Bowl hosts and both recent Super Bowls have been quite successful. Believe it or not, most people don't seem to mind late February in Southeast TX.

The Olympics, being in summer, are an entirely different animal though.

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by Mr. Clutch

While I tend to agree with most of your take on the Olympics, the idea that we can barely pull off the Super Bowl is absurd.

No, it might be a little unforgiving, and to be honest it's at least been a catalyst for the city to actually consider some kind of urban transportation development so that it's possible, and that the region's transportation needs go beyond a way for people to get to and from their houses in subdivisions 20 miles away.

But what would be absurd is if I could find anyone at either of them who isn't from Houston, who could tell me with a straight face they would rather be in Houston than New Orleans or Miami. For the national sports media and others who do this every year no matter where it is, the only thing they can do in Houston that they can't do there is ride a light rail train seven miles to find something to do, and marvel at the Astrodome. Not in the way they did 50 years ago, but more marveling at the fact that it's still standing unused.

[Texyn]

Originally Posted by Mr. Clutch

The Olympics, being in summer, are an entirely different animal though.

Some of the previous Summer Olympics events were held in October (i.e. Sydney 2000, Mexico City 1968), so Houston could take that option if it ever wins a bid.

Originally Posted by jfre81

But what would be absurd is if I could find anyone at either of them who isn't from Houston, who could tell me with a straight face they would rather be in Houston than New Orleans or Miami. For the national sports media and others who do this every year no matter where it is, the only thing they can do in Houston that they can't do there is ride a light rail train seven miles to find something to do, and marvel at the Astrodome. Not in the way they did 50 years ago, but more marveling at the fact that it's still standing unused.

In the end, Houston held it, and was successful. That's all that matters.

[SpringBrancher]

The dome is an eyesore. Tear it down, sell the land to be developed and levy property taxes. The sale plus taxes will pay for the demo or at least seriously defrays the costs. We watch baseball at Minute Maid. We don't need a dome. Hotels, mix use complexes, Apartments, office buildings and condos next to the rodeo and Texans would sell and lease like hot cakes. It would be very modern urban and walkable. A dead dome or parking structure adds nothing to our city. We could even build a college in that space. There are so many options.

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by SpringBrancher

sell the land to be developed and levy property taxes.

Its location is not such that it would be sold and partitioned. It sits in the middle of a complex whose operators have no use for it, and even less use for someone else coming in, buying it (so that the Texans and rodeo no longer control all of the complex) and competing for parking and access. Totally not happening. We'll have a Winter Olympics here before that happens.