In an era of tightening credit and equity markets, the Astrodome Hotel idea — which never gained enough traction to become an official boondoggle — finally appears to be on the ropes:

The developer endorsed by Harris County to transform the Astrodome into a 1,000-room destination hotel complex has missed two deadlines to show suitable proof of a financial partner for the $450 million project.
An August 2006 letter of intent signed by the county and Astrodome Redevelopment Corp. outlined various milestones to be met in the process.
When proof of funding did not meet the specified December 2006 deadline, the county granted an extension to March 1.
Scott Hanson, president with Astrodome Redevelopment, found a New York bank interested in backing the mammoth development. County officials were not satisfied with the commitment as presented. [. . .]
Says Hanson: “It’s happening. It’s just a timing issue. Sometimes the wheels don’t turn as fast as we’d like them to.” [. . .]
The developer wants to enter into a definitive agreement with the county this year on the project, and hopes to begin construction by early 2008.
“I think that’s probably aggressive,” says Mike Surface, chairman of the Sports & Convention Corp.
“These projects wind up taking a lot more time than you anticipate,” he adds. “There are still a lot of approvals that have to take place.” [. . .]
“We’ve come a long way … but there is a long way between now and getting a deal inked,” Surface says. “For people to start booking their rooms today is a bit premature.”

Translation: This deal, which always has had earmarks of being a pipe dream, is on life support. The problem with procrastinating about demolishing the Dome and using the land for a better use (i.e., badly needed parking at Reliant Park) is that the Dome continues “to eat” — that is, Harris County continues to pay between $1.5 and $2.0 million a year just to maintain it on a mothballed basis. That’s an expensive price to pay while Harris County Commissioners chase rainbows. The only thing surprising to me about all this is that we’ve been talking about it for almost three years now!
Update: A very bad idea.