Has it really been almost two years since we began talking about what to do with the Astrodome? (previous posts here, here, here and here).
After floating a Gaylord Texan-type concept for the past year or so, Astrodome Redevelopment Corp. and Harris County are ready to enter into a letter of intent regarding ARC’s $450 million plan to reinvent the Astrodome as a luxury convention hotel with a parking garage and new exit from Loop 610 South to keep the facility from interfering with Houston Texans games and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. ARC is a consortium comprised of Oceaneering International Inc., a publicly traded firm working in engineering, science and technology; URS, an architectural and design firm; NBGS International, a theme park developer; and Falcon’s Treehouse, a Florida-based design firm.
Although touted “as a major milestone,” the letter of intent is not such a big deal. ARC needs it to be able to negotiate deals with the array of entities (Texans, Rodeo, Harris County, financiers, investors, etc.) that it will have to cut deals with in order to make a deal of this magnitude come together. The letter of intent requires ARC to have its financing arranged in six months and to have its final deal cut with the county in a year.
Although I’m surprised that this proposal has gotten this far, I give the chances of the Astrodome hotel actually coming together without public financing as roughly the same as the Texans making the Super Bowl this upcoming season.