Harris County OKs $105 million renovation of Astrodome

The Astrodome has been vacant for years as officials and voters have considered and rejected a series of plans for new uses and renovation for the world's first domed sports stadium. The Astrodome has been vacant for years as officials and voters have considered and rejected a series of plans for new uses and renovation for the world's first domed sports stadium. Photo: Steve Gonzales, Houston Chronicle Photo: Steve Gonzales, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 107 Caption Close Harris County OKs $105 million renovation of Astrodome 1 / 107 Back to Gallery

Eight months before construction crews are expected to begin renovations work on the now-shuttered Astrodome, some groups already are hatching plans to make use of the famed stadium's nine acres.

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo officials see space for hundreds of commercial exhibitors who were wait-listed even as the annual event shattered attendance records.

Ken Lovell, president of the Houston International Boat, Sport and Travel Show, envisions a display of watercraft in the aging stadium harkening back to a 1960s event held there.

The non-profit Astrodome Conservancy is crowd-funding and seeking donors to host music, art and dance events, Chairman Phoebe Tudor said.

The emerging enthusiasm comes as Harris County Commissioners Court voted unanimously Tuesday to move forward with the final design and construction of a $105 million project to transform the cherished piece of Houston's sporting history into what officials hope will be coveted event space.

SAVING THE DOME: Here's what the original proposal looked like

"It gives us a huge national story line," said Holly Clapham, chief marketing officer for Houston First Corp., the city's main marketing arm. "This, obviously, is a very significant building and we can tell the story of its new life, and serving a new constituency that didn't know it as the 'Eighth Wonder of the World.'"

Construction on the project is expected to begin in October and end in February 2020.

"The first thing we have to do is get it back to where it's structurally sound," Harris County Judge Ed Emmett said after Tuesday's court meeting. "Nine acres of open space, under cover, in Houston, Texas, is a big deal. We've already been contacted by all sorts of groups that want to come use it, so it's exciting."

The court's approval came more than four years after Harris County voters rejected a $217 million bond proposal that would have paid for massive renovations to the 53-year structure.

Many interpreted the vote as a public mandate to demolish the stadium that once was home to the Houston Oilers and Astros, hosted countless major sporting events.

The Dome has not housed a professional sports team since the Astros moved to Minute Maid Park in 2000. NRG Stadium opened in the Dome complex two years later to serve as the home of the NFL's Houston Texans.

The Houston fire marshal's office declared the massive building unfit for occupancy in 2009.

READ ALSO: 50 years ago today, UH took down UCLA in the 'Game of the Century' in the Astrodome

Attempts to develop a plan to re-purpose the Dome produced numerous ideas, from an indoor amusement park to movie studio space, but failed to generate actual financing to pull any of those off. One idea would have seen the stadium stripped to its steel skeleton and ground beneath turned into green space.

Since then, the county has sold off thousands of dome seats and pieces of Astroturf to longtime fans and collectors.

Tuesday's vote was not unexpected. Commissioners Court signaled its intention to renovate the dome rather than raze it in September 2016 with a vote to begin the "design phase" of the project.

Four months later, the Texas Historical Commission designated the Astrodome a state antiquities landmark, giving the stadium special protections against demolition.

The historical commission must sign off on the renovation plan, and the Dome's designation as a landmark means it cannot be demolished or altered without a permit from the commission.

A historical commission spokesman said Tuesday that the county had not yet submitted an application for the permit.

Critics of the plan to re-purpose the stadium have latched on to the cost, as well as the timing of Tuesday's vote less than six months after Hurricane Harvey devastated the Houston metropolitan area. Money being spent on the Dome renovation could be better spent beefing up the region's flood protections, critics said.

In the wake of Harvey, Harris County leaders have proposed a bond issue of more than $1 billion be put before voters to boost flood control efforts.

According to Emmett, about of third of the $105 million cost to refurbish the Dome into convention and meeting space would come from the county's property tax-supported general fund. The reminder would be funding by hotel occupancy taxes and parking revenues.

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State Senator Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, who co-sponsored legislation last year that would have required a public referendum on the Astrodome project, called Tuesday's vote by Commissioners Court "tone deaf."

"We just need to recognize the obvious," Bettencourt said in a statement. "If the county has money to ignore a public vote and refurbish the Astrodome, then they have the capability to offer flooded-out homeowners disaster reappraisal and to cut their property tax rate."

Bettencourt and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have called on local taxing jurisdictions to allow residents whose homes were damaged by Harvey to have their properties reappraised to reflect their lower values.

Through a spokesman, Emmett called Bettencourt's remarks "ill-informed" and said the project would allow the county to generate revenue for upgrades to the NRG Complex that otherwise would fall on taxpayers.

The county spends about $170,000 a year to maintain the Dome in NRG Park, located on South Loop 610, largely for electric bills and flood insurance.

The renovation project has drawn the support of the Houston Texans and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, the two major tenants of NRG Park.

Tudor said Tuesday that the Astrodome Conservancy and the county are holding an event dubbed a "Domecoming" on April 9, well before the construction starts to give people a peek inside the stadium before it is locked down for construction.

"We're just delighted and thrilled that such a great structure with such a great history is going to be preserved and reused," she said.