I pulled together the newspaper articles I could find (http://www.chron.com/ and elsewhere that I Googled), and narrowed the list down to the following 5 sites being considered:
Downtown Houston: Either just north of Minute Maid Park, or just across US 59 from Minute Maid Park, depending on the news article.
Delmar Stadium: This is the HISD stadium just west of the intersection of US 290 and Loop 610. (This was an early contender, but hasn't been mentioned much since.)
Pearland: Near the intersection of SH 288 and BW 8. I'm not sure where it is supposed to be exactly, so I placed it on the SWC of the intersection, which has vacant land and is in the Pearland city limits.
Sugar Land: This is just east of US 59, between the Brazos River and University of Houston – Sugar Land campus.
Webster: No definitive site was announced, but apparently there are "several sites" that are possible.
How do these lay out spatially on the regional map? Check it out:
The 10 mile ring is centered on the current stadium, Robertson. Below is an aerial photo overlay to show land use:
Hopefully these JPGs will expand to a reasonable size when you click on them. (I fixed the earlier discoloration of the Pearland symbol.)
If I had to rank the sites in order of my personal preference, I'd rank them thusly:
1. Downtown – Convenient for all, but practice fields would have to be located elsewhere. Extra bonus: the Toyota Center has a non-compete clause that could make the Dynamo stadium unable to host concerts, so the pitch would stay pristine.
2. Pearland – Opposite side of town from me, but BW 8 makes it convenient, and there'd be room for a huge Dynamo complex.
3. Delmar Stadium – More convenient to me than Pearland, but it would be (1) primarily a school district facility with Dynamo as little more than a tenant (2) a football stadium mix use with those ugly gridiron lines and (3) no room for a Dynamo complex of fields.
4. Sugar Land – This is way too far southwest of town. It would provide for a nice soccer complex for the team and organization though.
5. Webster – No.
And here's an idea from out of the blue: Greenspoint. The area of BW8 and IH-45 (North Fwy) has Greenspoint Mall and good proximity to the airport. The area has been desperate to reinvigorate itself and is undergoing a multi-million dollar renovation. I'd bet that the local management district would love to have a stadium (and associated ball fields) to generate more interest and activity in the area. Space could be found...or made. It's not as central as a downtown location, but is still within Houston city limits and is on good highway arterials (including the nearby Hardy Tollroad). Just a random thought.
Location is critical to the success of the stadium. Obviously, a location as central as possible would be best, but there are other restrictions and considerations Corporate Dynamo will face besides transportational convenience. Hopefully, we can get a great location and a magnificent facility. I'll post my definition of "magnificent" at a later date. (My wish list will exclude all gridiron markings to be sure.)
No comments:
Post a Comment