The Astrodome, Looking South from the Reliant Stadium Parking Lot in 2002.
What are we going to do with the Astrodome?
Are we going to make an active decision about the future of grand old lady of all American sports venue innovations – or are we simply going to continue using it as a basis for periodic nostalgia stories by the local media on what it used to mean to the Houston sporting community as it also continues to fall apart, beam by riveted beam, at the taxpayer’s expense?
This two-month span alone, March and April 2012, we’ve again had stories by both Channels 11 and 2 on the conditions of the Dome’s interior that also have swept quickly over the absence of a clear plan for the structure’s future and the high costs of either keeping it stagnant, as is, or tearing it down. If the pattern of the past continues, we will continue to avoid an active decision and simply wait until some other news outlet or under-financed planning group steps forward to raise the “astrodome” name to consciousness again, sometime in the next two years.
It’s time for that to change, but talk is cheap. People like me don’t have the money to make anything happen on this scale, but there are a number of individuals, groups, and corporate concerns in this town who could make it happen to the good, if these interests could all agree upon and come to terms with how the building could be used in service to some commercial end that also satisfied its need for preservation as one of the most important architectural buildings in the world.
The Astrodome remains as the landmark fulfillment of a change in multi-purpose stadium construction that was the first to protect even sports like baseball and football from weather extremes. Before the Houston dome, there were no facilities out there big enough for indoor baseball or football. After the Astrodome, many would continue to follow.
Do we really want to let this landmark either continue its path to see – or simply put it on the execution block as nothing more than the latest Houston building to be torn down for additional parking space?
The idea that we may do the latter makes me ashamed of Houston – and that’s not a feeling I bear easily when I hear it coming toward our city from outsiders, Isn’t there anyone out there with both the will and the resource access who might be willing to step forward and take leadership on a “Put the Heart Back in the Astrodome” campaign?”
To me, buildings are like bodies. They only remain alive, for better or worse, when the stir of human hearts and souls are beating within them. Once the people leave, they begin to fall apart, slowly but surely. And the Astrodome essentially went dark after the Astros abandoned her after the 1999 baseball season.
I like the idea of a commerce and cultural center that would convert the Astrodome into a place that housed retail, entertainment, and dining businesses – along with separate historical museums on Houston Sports, Commerce, Energy, Education, Medicine, Houston Arts and Museums, NASA, and the Ship Channel. Maybe the Greater Houston Partnership could even move their base of operations there and help work to keep the Dome growing as the most dynamic salesman that Houston ever had.
The good possibilities from an even more finely tuned model of my humble prototype are endless. But they just won’t start without human will, devotion, heart, money, and energy being infused into them.
Please leave a comment on what you think we should do about the Astrodome, and, if you also are the person or group that is willing to take a leadership role in making something constructive happen, please feel free to make a public commitment here too at The Pecan Park Eagle.
PM Addendum Here’s asuggestion submitted later in the day of this posting by architectural artist Patrick Lopez that comes complete with two photos of the Astrodome’s skeletal structure:
Patricks Lopez Says: “First let’s keep the Astrodome , strip it to the structure , cover it in glass to become a giant greenhouse for 21st century science,
“The Future Astrodome Nature and Ecology Center, a glass dome study center , an arboretum or our local plants and a vast aquarium for the study of our local gulf coast aquatic sea life ,and bird life , the gold of the institution, to keep our waters ,birds and fish , air and earth here in Texas , all safe from pollution “
“The all glass building is to become a science center for our local schools and universities, class rooms and lecture halls for continuing study of our nation’s fight against pollution .” – Patrick Lopez
“A Teaching center ,of environmental study where people from all over the world would visit here to find answers about the latest technology in pollution elimination , Clean air , clean water , a clean earth , all studied here at Houston’s World Nature Center”
The Pecan Park Eagle 
April 4, 2012 at 1:31 pm |
I thought the best idea was to sell it to a company that wanted to turn it into a movie soundstage. I doubt that opportunity still exists but it would have let the Dome become “their problem” instead of the County’s problem.
Now, as I understand it, mismanagement and neglect have caused the AC system to leak and asbestos insulation is falling off the pipes. This has become a dangerous and costly place to either refurbish of demolish.
There was a time the County could have been choosy about who might buy it and what its legacy would be but we’ve passed that time. They need to sell the structure to anyone who will buy it and then appeal to their sense of history to use it in a way that honors its past.
Picture the Astrodome as a DeLorean that was once shiny and flashy that people marvelled over but it has now sat in the front yard for a decade without anyone starting the engine. Many of the parts are rusted out or decayed. It’ll take a lot of work to make it functional again. There was a time you could have sold it for $50,000 but now you’d be happy just to get it off your lot. The problem is the County still thinks it’s worth what they paid for it and the honest truth is, it’s not.
If anyone still wants to buy the Dome, sell it to them “as is” and let them do with it as they wish. The County needs to realize they have no leverage anymore and let it be sold for what they can get, whatever that is.
April 4, 2012 at 1:44 pm |
Restore the grand lady. It is a multi-functional facility that a city needs.
April 4, 2012 at 2:14 pm |
First let’s keep the Astrodome , strip it to the structure , cover it in glass to become a giant greenhouse for 21 century science,
The Future Astrodome Nature and Ecology Center, a glass dome study center , an arboretum or our local plants and a vast aquarium for the study of our local gulf coast aquatic sea life ,and bird life , the gold of the institution, to keep our waters ,birds and fish , air and earth here in Texas , all safe from pollution .
The all glass building to be a science center for our local schools and universities ,class rooms and lecture halls for continuing study of our nation’s fight against pollution .
A Teaching center ,of environmental study where people from all over the world would visit here to find answers about the latest technology in pollution elimination , Clean air , clean water , a clean earth , all studied here at Houston’s World Nature Center.
April 4, 2012 at 2:41 pm |
The cost of restoration and/or remodeling for other uses could be far higher than the potential income.
April 4, 2012 at 3:13 pm |
Bill, I like your idea of a cultural and commerce center, and I’d add that if it housed a nice hotel and performance hall it would draw even more toward that end. I also agree that as long as the county owns it, it likely will go nowhere and do nothing indefinitely. Only a wealthy investor/investment group will have the vision and motivation to turn it back into a thriving venue for the public. For the county taxpayers, it undoubtedly operates at a costly loss every year. As such, giving the place away to investors would almost be a net plus. Of course, the land has value. But the Astrodome is a historical landmark, and it needs to be restored and preserved. So I agree with the idea expressed that a sweet deal to sell the place to the right investors is the best hope for such restoration and preservation. Done right, it could be a great draw and a commercial boon to the community.
Mark
April 4, 2012 at 3:23 pm |
Turn the Astrodome into a 24/7 non-stop Party, Amusement, Festival, and Shopping super structure that is bigger and better than Kemah/Galveston places. The renovation expense will be recovered through renting spaces to businesses and small entrance fees. That will turn Houston into a vacation destination for a change, since we hardly have anything else to offer for fun.
April 4, 2012 at 4:29 pm |
As a photographer I would like to get inside the Astrodome and take photos of what it looks like now. Then locate photos of games and events that happened in the Domes history and some something similar to what this photographer did with WW2
http://gizmodo.com/5802381/ww2-photoshop-gallery/gallery/1
Not just with the Astrodome though but find historic baseball related photos and find where they were taken in Houston and take a modern day photo and use photoshop to get a similar effect as the link above.
Is something like this possible and would anybody be interested in delving into a project like this with me?
April 8, 2012 at 3:52 am |
I cherish the history of the great game – Texas has it’s share of baseball history and takes a back seat to no one in that arena. I’ve contemplated over time what might be done with the Dome but I have resigned myself to the reality that it’s usefulness has long gone by the wayside.
It has become an eyesore and harzardous with the amount of asbestos falling in chunks everywhere. It’s time to put her down. It serves no practical purpose except one of nostalgia for many older fans. It’s time to move on and allow the Dome to take her place with Ebbetts Field, Sportsman Park, Forbes Field, Crosley Field and Connie Mack Stadium.
April 17, 2012 at 4:02 pm |
It seems to me that using it as a sports stadium would be to most logical thing to do with it. right? Let school districts, colleges, etc use it for w/e. There are millions of things you could do with it by just repairing it. Just take a power washer to it and it will be new again! lol.
Adam.
March 27, 2013 at 3:02 am |
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