Another step forward for the Dome hotel

The Dome Hotel gets one step closer to reality.

Entrepreneurs seeking to turn the Reliant Astrodome into an upscale convention hotel hope to secure financing in six months and begin work on gutting and remaking the legendary Houston venue next summer.

Scott Hanson, president of Astrodome Redevelopment Corp., laid out the timetable after his project was given preliminary approval by the Harris County Sports & Convention Corp.'s board Wednesday.

Hanson and the other partners in Astrodome Redevelopment are poised to invest $450 million to turn the world's first domed stadium into a 1,200-room hotel with winding waterways, gondolas and nightclubs.

"We've done a lot of studies. We had to convince ourselves first that this will be a success," he said.

As noted before, this preliminary approval was needed for them to be able to get any financing on the deal. Tom isn't too impressed, and thinks the odds of the hotel ever getting built are pretty slim. That may well be so, but it's still come farther along than I had ever expected, so who knows? Investors can be funny. We'll see what happens.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on July 21, 2006 to Elsewhere in Houston | TrackBack