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Astrodome Tour


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MSG was in talks to buy the Forum; I'm not sure if anything ever came of that.

They did buy it and are looking to renovate it in the next few years.

It will probably be turned into a concert only venue which it pretty much is now, but it still has the capability to host basketball and hockey games if needed. That may be lost after the renovation though if and when it occurrs.

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A current tour of the Astrodome from the Houston Chronicle http://www.chron.com/news/gallery/Astrodome-tour-41244/photo-2774936.php. This is what you get with 2-3 million dollars of maintenance a year.

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I've been staring at that photo a good long while trying to wrap my head around the perspective. I gather it's from the press or a luxury box (did the latter even exist then?), but it also looks like someone shrunk a scale version of the warped Astrodome into their living room.

I thought it was someones basement at first glance

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#RaiderUp

Twitter-@R_Redinger4 My Blog-Southwest Ohio Football

NCFAF-Wheeling Coal Miners,NCFAF-FCS Lake Erie Shoremen, NCFAB-Wheeling Coal Miners

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MSG was in talks to buy the Forum; I'm not sure if anything ever came of that.

They did buy it and are looking to renovate it in the next few years.

It will probably be turned into a concert only venue which it pretty much is now, but it still has the capability to host basketball and hockey games if needed. That may be lost after the renovation though if and when it occurrs.

MSG as in the parent company Madison Square Garden, Inc. or a different MSG?

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Yeah, the indoor amusement park idea was around a few years ago. But if Astroworld, which was right across the street from the Dome, couldn't stay in business, what hope would we have of enjoying a far smaller indoor park?

I like the idea of the movie studio but the state has been very stingy about funding anything but essentials (and the Governor's Mansion). So, while there are tax breaks, they don't have an active incentive for filmmakers like other states.

During our bid for the 2012 Olympics, there was a plan to gut it and make it into the track and field stadium

But yeah, anything besides being used as a storage closet like it is now.

BTW- the local NPR station talked about this tour and said that they had very few lights on. What you are seeing there is the light streaming in through the windows of the dome.

Astroworld closing had more to do with Six Flags losing money by the second than it did the park itself. Astroworld was actually one of their highest attended parks, but the land it sat on was valuable and they sold it and the rides off.

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Same thing almost happened with Magic Mountain in California. I think the crash of the real estate market put an end to that though.

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On 11/19/2012 at 7:23 PM, oldschoolvikings said:
She’s still half convinced “Chris Creamer” is a porn site.)
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MSG was in talks to buy the Forum; I'm not sure if anything ever came of that.

They did buy it and are looking to renovate it in the next few years.

It will probably be turned into a concert only venue which it pretty much is now, but it still has the capability to host basketball and hockey games if needed. That may be lost after the renovation though if and when it occurrs.

MSG as in the parent company Madison Square Garden, Inc. or a different MSG?

Yes, the Dolan one.

2010 LA Times article

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but the land it sat on was valuable and they sold it and the rides off.

And this is what was done with that land

astroworld.jpg

Any time I drive that empty field when Astroworld once stood, I boil with rage. The land was bought before the economy tanked so the apartments or medical center extension or whatever the hell they wanted to build there hasn't come about. It's not even being used as overflow parking for the Rodeo and it's connected by a footbridge over the freeway. Parking is so bad for the Rodeo, they have people park at various stadiums around Houston and bus in.

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It reminds me of a ghost town. There is a picture in the gallery of a luxury suite with pillows still on the sofa. It's sad.

On September 20, 2012 at 0:50 AM, 'CS85 said:

It's like watching the hellish undead creakily shuffling their way out of the flames of a liposuction clinic dumpster fire.

On February 19, 2012 at 9:30 AM, 'pianoknight said:

Story B: Red Wings go undefeated and score 100 goals in every game. They also beat a team comprised of Godzilla, the ghost of Abraham Lincoln, 2 Power Rangers and Betty White. Oh, and they played in the middle of Iraq on a military base. In the sand. With no ice. Santa gave them special sand-skates that allowed them to play in shorts and t-shirts in 115 degree weather. Jesus, Zeus and Buddha watched from the sidelines and ate cotton candy.

POTD 5/24/12POTD 2/26/17

 

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For all that was made of this technological acheivement that was still being applauded in the early Super Bowl years, it's interesting to me that the Astrodome never actually hosted a Super Bowl. They had the Super Bowl in Houston at Rice Stadium, but not in the Astrodome? Weird.

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For all that was made of this technological acheivement that was still being applauded in the early Super Bowl years, it's interesting to me that the Astrodome never actually hosted a Super Bowl. They had the Super Bowl in Houston at Rice Stadium, but not in the Astrodome? Weird.

Two probable reasons for that

1) Rice Stadium was strictly a football stadium (as opposed to a multi-purpose arena), which probably made it more suitable for the biggest football game of the year.

2) Rice stadium could hold more fans for football than the Astrodome.

WIZARDS ORIOLES CAPITALS RAVENS UNITED

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  • 4 years later...

Bumping after four years since Harris County finally made a decision, a $105M one at that.

 

"Parking Lot" (KINDA)


 

Quote

 

The plan will raise the Astrodome floor 30 feet to ground level, making room for two new levels of underground parking. The addition will create 1,400 premium parking spaces, plus more storage at the Astrodome.

On top of this new ground floor, visitors will find eight acres of column-free, weatherproofed open space that will host the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the Offshore Technology Conference, The Houston Boat Show, auto show and other community events that could be affected by inclement weather.

Meantime, the upper levels of the Astrodome, which encompasses more than 500,000 square feet, will become available for redevelopment as well.

 

Of course, a question on many people's minds will be how the county intends to pay for all this.

According to Emmett's office, the money comes from three source, including $35 million or less drawn from the Harris County General Fund; approximately $35 million from hotel taxes (HOT) in Houston, and another $35 million from the Parking Enterprise Fund.

 

A look at the many (and costly) Astrodome studies
EMBED </>More News Videos
 
<iframe width="476" height="267" src="http://abc13.com/video/embed/?pid=1405863" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Numerous proposals and an endless stream of studies have been made about what to do with the Astrodome. Ted Oberg examines some of the costs.



According to County Judge Ed Emmett's office, the new project will take two phases to complete; the first phase will require 12 to 18 months, and Phase II will take between two and three years to finish.
 

 
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  • 1 month later...

The Montreal Forum was gutted and turned into a mall or something, so it only half-counts. The Inglewood Forum is more or less the same building in terms of function, but was renovated heavily and probably doesn't need an ice plant anymore.

♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫

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