A COSTLY WONDER

Dome debt likely to haunt Harris County

By CHRIS MORAN
Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle

April 12, 2010, 11:48PM

More than a decade after its professional football and baseball teams moved out, the Astrodome carries as much as $32 million in debt — nearly as much as the original cost of construction.

Harris County, which owns the stadium, projects that it will take another generation to complete the $48 million in debt and interest payments to get it off the books.

The debt is so complex and has been refinanced enough times that county financial managers disagree as to how much the county owes. A second estimate put the debt at $19 million.

Either way, local government is on the hook for millions of dollars a year in debt payments and operating costs for a stadium the city has deemed unfit for occupancy.

Debt and interest payments will amount to more than $2.4 million this year, according to a payment schedule for the higher debt estimate. The Astrodome's manager estimates it also will cost $2 million for insurance, maintenance, utilities and security.

The debt likely would have to be reckoned with in any deal to redevelop the Astrodome, said Willie Loston, executive director of the Harris County Sports & Convention Corporation, which the county created to run the Reliant Park complex.

But no deal to restore what once was known as the “Eighth Wonder of the World” is likely to be affected by $32 million, Loston said.

“Practically anything that would be done with the building would be some multiple of that,” Loston said. “It's not enough to make or break a development proposal.”

The rehabilitation of the Astrodome could get a little push today as part of a deal for Houston's next stadium. The Commissioners Court agenda includes a deal that would not only have the city and county contribute $10 million each in infrastructure for a $60 million stadium financed by the Dynamo but also draw a redevelopment zone around the Astrodome.

Fixing the Astrodome is not the purpose of the district, but a surge of development in the area could make the Astrodome more attractive as an investment and destination, according to development officials.

No plans yet

There are no specific plans on what to do with redevelopment money in the Astrodome district or even an indication that any of it will be spent on the old stadium. County officials say it is not likely that redevelopment money would be used for Astrodome debt payments.

Astrodome expenses are covered by a combination of hotel and car rental taxes, parking fees and concessions.

Sports economics Professor Craig Depken of the University of North Carolina Charlotte said using tourist taxes to pay the debt protects the general fund that pays sheriff's deputies and repairs roads.

But without the Astrodome debt, he said, “Either the taxes would be lower on the hotels, which would encourage more people to come to Houston,” or the tourist tax money could be directed toward other projects.

Harris County is unusual but not unique in being saddled with debt for an unused stadium. Olympic Stadium in Montreal was not paid off until two years after the Expos left for Washington, D.C. Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh still was carrying $45 million in debt at the time of its demolition in 2001.

Seattle's Kingdome was razed in 2000, and King County is scheduled to finish paying off its debt in five years.

22 years of payments

Public money will be required to cover Astrodome debt payments for 22 more years, according to county financial projections.

The Astrodome's debt stems from the $60 million cost in the late 1980s of adding 10,000 seats, removing the scoreboard and installing 72 luxury boxes. County commissioners approved the project in an effort to persuade Oilers' owner Bud Adams to keep the team in Houston. The team left town after the 1996 season.

When asked if the expansion looked like a bad investment in retrospect, Precinct 4 Commissioner Jerry Eversole replied, “Hell, yeah!” But Eversole, who was not yet on the Court when the spending was approved, also said it has to be looked at in the context of the times, when two teams were threatening to leave town.

“We couldn't not try to keep the Oilers and we couldn't not try to keep the Astros,” Eversole said.

‘It's an obstacle'

Even Precinct 3 Commissioner Steve Radack, who has criticized publicly funded stadiums as “playpens for millionaires,” agreed that it was a good decision to try to keep the Oilers in Houston.

Radack, who joined the Court shortly after it approved the Astrodome expansion, pointed out that the Astrodome was used by other tenants for years after the teams departed.

“It's not like all of a sudden the Oilers left and somebody turned out the lights,” Radack said.

The Astrodome debt is part of the picture whether it is razed, redeveloped or sold.

“It's an obstacle,” Eversole said, “but that's what plans do, plans overcome obstacles.”

chris.moran@chron.com


nancy@callnancyfurst.com