On the field, off the field and now around the field, change has become an ever-present theme for the Astros.

As the ballclub rebuilds with youth after shedding connections to the last playoff run and as the ownership remains a constant question going forward, the Astros have set about an overhaul of their 11-year-old home.

The plans for Minute Maid Park renovations, centered around a nearly 7,000-square-foot high-definition video board, will enhance what is already among the most visually and especially aurally stimulating displays in baseball.

The project also will consist of the addition of a video board high above left field and a space at the back of the first level behind home plate designed to be a trendier offshoot of the elite Diamond Club level.

"We wanted to give fans the utmost experience," owner Drayton McLane said.

Although the Astros do not own the building — leasing from the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority - they will take on all the cost of the project, which internal estimates peg anywhere from $10 million to $13 million, from the asset renewal and replacement fund.

Julio Cortez/Chronicle

The changes are coincidental with efforts to work out a new television deal as the Astros can opt out of their arrangement with Fox Sports in 2012.

Upon completion of the renovations, which is projected for opening day 2011, and the TV contract, stability on the business side could match that on the baseball side.

McLane has said on multiple occasions that he would listen to offers to sell the team, and stability including a favorable lease on Minute Maid Park, which lasts through 2029 with possible extensions, could help foster that.

First major renovations

Now more than a third of the way into the initial 30-year lease, the Astros are making their first major renovations.

In addition to the scoreboards and about 175-seat young-adult-oriented section, roughly 1,000 feet of continuous ribbon board will be laid out around the stadium. It will take the place of what is now roughly 100 feet on the first base side and 100 feet on the third base side.

To make room for the club seating at the back of the first level, the writers' press box, which also houses the official scorer, public address announcer and some Astros staff, will relocate to the second level. It will be adjacent to the broadcasters' area.

In replacing the primary video board, the Astros are upgrading from a side-to-side standard definition color board and black-and-white board. The new screen will be 54 feet tall by 124 feet wide, making it the second largest in Major League Baseball (smaller than only Kansas City's more vertical board), according to president of business operations Pam Gardner.

"We've been researching this for the past 3-4 years," Gardner said. "We knew we needed bigger, number one, because that's the trend, and we knew we needed HD."

McLane provided an interesting reason for the upgrade, and although he never specifically addressed its relationship with the Astros' falling attendance when he was asked, the link was clear.

"Fans have flat screen TVs and high-definition TVs at their homes, and now they'll have that at the ballpark," McLane said. "We need to constantly upgrade the ballpark especially in this era."

Attendance on decline

Attendance at Minute Maid Park has fallen drastically in recent years, with 3.02 million in 2007, 2.78 million in 2008, 2.52 million in 2009 and 2.33 million in 2010.

The projects will begin in the next couple of weeks, Gardner said, and should be ready for the start of the 2011 season. The Astros play the Boston Red Sox in a two-game exhibition series March 30 and 31 and have their regular season home opener April 8 against the Florida Marlins.

The scoreboard was state-of-the-art when the ballpark opened as Enron Field in 2000, but as so often happens with state-of-the-art, it passed through that phase, and even its billing as modern art, very quickly.

"We thought it would be a 10-year lifespan for the board and we just finished our 11th year," Gardner said.

The new secondary scoreboard over left field, meanwhile, will provide a way for fans in the right field seats to see a video display.

Also in the plans is an expansion of the ribbon board - the long thin scoreboard that currently stretches roughly 100 feet on the seating facade along the first base line and another 100 along the third base line. The new plan calls for 1,000 feet of continuous ribbon board, which Gardner said will be used for statistics, advertising and rallying fans.

"It's really going to change the feel of the park in a high-energy way," she said.

That word, "change," has been heard more and more around Minute Maid Park lately in all facets of the game.

There were major changes at the trade deadline, and changes could be coming that make the stadium renovations take on the apparent magnitude of buffing the floor.

But one thing is certain. The uniforms, long famous-bordering-on-infamous around baseball for their wildly wandering designs, have become the most stable aspect of the ballclub.

zachary.levine@chron.com