Astrodome to Learn Future Shortly

as reported by the Houston Chronicle (www.chron.com)

Harris County officials plan next week to unveil three scenarios for the Astrodome — ranging from demolition to a multi-purpose redesign that could accommodate a planetarium, a movie soundstage and other attractions — and a revised master plan for Reliant Park that could include a new arena and hotel.

Willie Loston, executive director of the Harris County Sports and Convention Corporation, which operates the county-owned Reliant Park complex, said price tags for the Astrodome could range from $100 million to demolish the Dome and replace it with green space to $500 million for a full-fledged, bells-and-whistles revamped Dome, financed in part with non-public money, that could offer entertainment and technology options for tenants.

“We're not making recommendations, we're not making proposals,” Loston said. “We're saying that one of these three things could happen to the (Astrodome) building.”

The master plan for Reliant Park will include demolition of Reliant Arena, which would be replaced by a new arena attached to Reliant Center on the north end of the Reliant Park and augmented, if development partners can be lined up, with a hotel and parking garage attached to Reliant Center.

The master plan, and the three options for the Astrodome, would be in keeping with Harris County Judge Ed Emmett's charge that the county should adopt a plan for the Astrodome's future by the end of the year. How that plan would be put into action, however, is still undetermined.

“What I can tell you is that it is an almost unanimous feeling among the commissioners' court that this need to be a public decision,” Loston said.

If the Dome is demolished, it would be replaced by a park-like setting rather than parking spaces, Loston said. And demolition, he said, would be more complicated than it was for Texas Stadium in Irving, the Dallas Cowboys' former stadium, which was ringed by three freeways with no other buildings nearby.

“This (the Astrodome) is in the middle of an operating complex,” Loston said. “I've got football games I'm getting ready for (at Reliant Stadium) in two months.”

The other options start with the same premise: The Dome's outer shell would remain standing, but the interior would be gutted, removing seats, concourses and skyboxes, and a 300,000- to 400,000-square-foot floor would be installed at street level above the current Dome floor, which is 32 feet below street level.

“When you walked into the Dome, you would walk right onto this new floor surface,” Loston said. “We would be getting rid of the hole in the ground and rehabbing the building.”

Potential uses in a basic reconfiguration could include a planetarium and a institute for science, technology, education and mathematics, established through non-public funding. With portable seats, the Dome also could accommodate sports events, indoor festivals or events in conjunction with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

The third option — “the second option on steroids,” as Loston described it — would include space for meeting rooms, conference rooms and laboratories, built on what are now the Dome's fifth and seventh levels, plus a collection of museums and a movie soundstage.

Loston said the Sport and Convention Corporation will not recommend to county commissioners which plan, if any, to approve.

“We don't prefer anything,” he said. “We are stewards who are trying to give decision-makers a range of options.”

The proposal to demolish the dilapidated Reliant Arena, which in recent years has housed rodeo events, the last season of the Houston Comets WNBA team and the USA Gymnastics national championships, came as county officials discussed the master plan for the entire park area, not just the Dome.

“The master plan will include a plan to add space to Reliant Center to replace what was lost (with the arena's demolition),” Loston said.

That could include a new arena attached to Reliant Center along with a parking garage and a hotel tower, located on the Fannin Street side of the complex, to accommodate conventions and other events at the center.

AstroWorld Site Sold to Developer

AstroWorld, the old Six Flags amusement park site on the South Loop, sold to The Mallick Group of Fort Worth, TX. The site had been vacant since Six Flags Inc. shuttered AstroWorld in October 2005. The new owner bought the 104-acre tract across the freeway from Reliant Stadium in May for an undisclosed amount. The local seller was Angel/McIver Interests LP, of Conroe, TX, which paid $77 million for the dirt in 2006. Mike McIver and David Angel gained quite a bit of local notoriety for themselves when they acquired the "prime" property.

However, they local consortium never unveiled plans for the property, which is linked by light rail to the Texas Medical Center. Speculation was rampant that a mixed-use development that included retail stores, medical space, commercial offices, a hotel and apartments would be a good fit. Access to restaurants and stores for Texans home games was thought to generate a large amount of interest from regional retailers and commercial developments along the South Loop have had good success.

Michael Mallick, the new owner, says he would be just fine if no one knew his group owned the old AstroWorld site. But the cat got out of the bag. 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. The Mallick Group acquired the site as an investment because, as Mallick says, Houston is a great place to invest. He’s not sure what will become of the land, but he says a decision will probably be made around the end of the year.

The group might hold the property for three to five years; sell it in its entirety once the market turns around; or sell it off in pieces. “We’re just going to sit back and see what happens,” says Mallick.

The Mallick Group invests in all commercial property types except industrial. It also develops real estate, such as the Horseshoe Bay Resort Marriott Hotel northwest of Austin. The group has also developed single-family homes in Fort Worth in public/private partnership with the City of Fort Worth.

College Football's Texas Bowl Boosts Profile with Big 12 & Big Ten Connections

This from a file story in the HBJ:

The value of the Texas Bowl brand will move higher in 2010 now that the college football game will include teams from the Big 12 and Big Ten conferences.

Next year’s game will also have a higher-ranked Big 12 team, getting the fifth choice among bowl-eligible teams from the conference after the Bowl Championship Series lineups have been announced. Since its start in 2006, the Texas Bowl has had the seventh pick among eligible Big 12 teams.

Big 12 and Big Ten officials committed this week to a four-year agreement with the Texas Bowl through 2013.

“When we took the bowl over in 2006, the vision was clear: to bring two teams from BCS conferences to Houston on New Year’s,” said Heather Houston, Texas Bowl manager. “This dream is now a reality with today’s announcement.”

This year’s game at Reliant Stadium, produced by Houston-based Lone Star Sports and Entertainment and set for broadcast on ESPN, is set for 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 31, and will feature Navy against a Big 12 team to be determined.

Of the three Texas Bowls held so far, Texas Christian University’s 20-13 win over the University of Houston in 2007 attracted the largest crowd, with 62,097 in attendance.