Harris County leaders say private dollars are needed to renovate Astrodome as its future remain unclear | Houston Public Media

Following recently inflated cost estimates to renovate Houston’s historic Astrodome, Harris County leaders said plans cannot move forward until there’s significant private investment.

An agenda item for the Harris County Commissioners Court meeting Thursday included a discussion about the findings of a recent architectural analysis, which found that renovating the decades-old structure would come at a cost of about $750 million. Commissioners took the discussion into executive session and took no action on the item.

Representatives of the nonprofit Astrodome Conservancy attended the Thursday meeting, requesting a signal from county leaders to the private development community that there is interest in renovating the Astrodome. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said that’s money the county itself doesn’t have — and the project would require significant private investment to proceed.

Beth Wiedower Jackson, the executive director of the Astrodome Conservancy, said the organization is in discussions with multiple large-scale private developers who have signaled interest in the investment. Which one may step up to the plate has yet to be seen.

“We can and will continue to bring private dollars to the table for capital, for operations and for ongoing maintenance,” Jackson said. “And we are working to minimize the investment by Harris County in such a public-private partnership thanks to the availability of the historic rehabilitation tax credits.”

The dome, which is owned by the county, saw its last publicly held event in 2002 and has been vacant for years. County and local sports officials have long weighed options for the building once known as “Eighth Wonder of the World,” but none have stuck.

Though a $217 million referendum that would have helped pay for part of the renovation was defeated by Harris County voters in 2013, a recent survey conducted by the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs suggested Harris County voters would now support using public funds to renovate the Astrodome — bringing a new glimmer of hope for the facility.

Jesse Dickerman, interim county administrator, said the county remains open to meet with anyone that the conservancy wants to bring to the table. He said the county is limited on money to invest in the redevelopment project, and bringing in new dollars may require legislative action down the road.

Speaking during a press briefing on Thursday, Hidalgo pointed to a multi-million-dollar deficit in the county’s 2026 fiscal year budget, spurred by costly pay raises for law enforcement officers last year.

“We can’t afford it as a county,” Hidalgo said. “And we asked the voters if they would like to pay for it and they voted no. And so if they are able to bring private investment, then it’s something we could do. So right now I think we are in a very collaborative moment that’s still in development while we’re waiting to see and collaborate with the leaders who are championing the Astrodome whether there’s enough private support for it.”

The Astrodome Conservancy representatives are requesting a formal signal from commissioners court that they would be willing to have discussions with private developers about renovating the 60-year-old building.

“I think it’s premature to be talking about funding right now,” Jackson said. “In order to bring those private dollars to the county for the conversation, we are looking for the signal from the court that the county is open to having those conversations.”

The Harris County Sports & Convention Corporation, a governmental nonprofit that manages the Astrodome and surrounding NRG Park, approved the recent study with Kirksey Architecture in 2024 to look further into a cost analysis of updating the world’s first domed sports stadium. Another option, to demolish the structure, is estimated to cost about $54 million, according to the analysis.

The latest cost projection for a renovation would only restore the Astrodome to basic operation functionality, according to the Harris County Office of County Administration. Though the analysis addresses necessary HVAC and plumbing issues, it doesn’t include upgrades that would be needed to meet modern venue standards and historic preservation.

The county attorney’s office is charged with bringing options to work with the conservancy back to commissioners at a later court date.