The Astrodome Hotel boondoggle

So, some group has obtained funding to turn the Astrodome into a hotel/village. What a ridiculous idea.

Sedosi, Tom Kirkendall and Owen Courreges covered the main problems of this impending fiasco very nicely. Here's Sedosi:

Why does this strike me as a monumentally bad idea?

Could it be due to the fact that the Hilton Americas Hotel is having trouble maintaining capacity at operating levels?

Could it be due to the fact that there is barely enough convention traffic in Houston to satisfy the current available space?

Could it be due to the fact that the Dome is a County-owned property, and this basically would be another high dollar subsidy for private investment?

It could be!

Tom Kirkendall:

A project of this magnitude would entail working out huge problems, such as how an additional 1,200 rooms can be justified to lenders and equity investors in light of Houston's current glut of hotel rooms, parking woes during football games and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, and the dubious nature of the pitiful Astroworld Six Flags Amusement Park across the freeway from the Dome as a draw for the hotel. As a result, my sense is that this deal will never come together, but crazier financial decision have been made -- just look at the Metro Light Rail line!

Owen Courreges:

Houston has waaaaay more hotel capacity than we currently need, or will need for the foreseeable future. We aren’t a tourist destination, and everything beyond tourism – i.e. business travel and conventions – aren’t enough to sustain our current capicity.

Yes, yes, yes. The Houston hotel market is saturated. The LAST thing the city needs is another hotel, let alone another BIG hotel. And let's not forget that Mayor White "fixed" Houston's pension mess by burying it in the Hilton Americas. He certainly can't be rooting for the Astrodome Hotel. Plus, the Hilton Americas is already in iffy shape as evidenced by something the Chronicle's Shannon Buggs wrote in June:

Heywood Sanders recently placed a $50 per night bid for a four-star hotel room in downtown Houston on PriceLine.com. His offer was accepted by the Hilton Americas .

"As the Hilton seeks to fill up rooms by offering low rates through alternative booking channels, it's cannibalizing business from the other hotels," said Sanders, a professor of public administration at University of Texas at San Antonio who studies publicly financed convention hotels.

Fifty bucks. That's embarrassing.

And last April the Orlando Sentinel shared this depressing news:

the Hilton Americas on average had almost as many empty rooms as filled ones -- just like the rest of the hotels downtown.

So, the plan is to build another big hotel. Great! That's a terrific idea! How many tax breaks will be promised to the developers by Harris County officials? Will there be any no-interest or low-interest loans of taxpayer dollars to make the dreamy new hotel/village a reality? Owen's absolutely right that people are not going to decide to come to Houston because of an Astrodome Hotel. It just ain't gonna happen. And few (if any) companies are going to decide to have their conventions in Houston because the Astrodome was remade into a hotel.

The whole idea is a novelty -- a very expensive novelty -- and it will wear off very, very fast.

Posted by Anne Linehan @ 08/18/05 08:01 PM | Houston Miscellany | Technorati | Sphere | Comments (7)

Previous Entry | Home | Next Entry

Trackback

Unfortunately, abusive spammers have forced us to disable incoming trackback pings. The Technorati link should list related posts. Feel free to drop us an email if you've linked a post and would like to let us know about it.

SITE MENU

+Home
+About
+Archives/Categories
+Bad Sports
+Bloggers
+Chron Headlines
+Contact Us
+Donate
+Forum
+Local Blog Talk
+PDA Friendly
+Sponsor
+Syndication

ADVERTISING