Four decades ago, when Houston was far less dense and urban, the brand-new Astrodome was a beacon of future growth and promise. The Astrodome rose from the prairie, looking like a Star Trek habitat that could change Houston and just might change the whole universe, too.

In the 1960s, the Astrodome was surrounded by a lot of under-developed property and vacant land. And it’s still that way – relatively under-developed with lots of empty land around. The Astrodome, now discarded and vacant, didn’t kick off a development boom. And neither did Reliant Stadium, Minute Maid Park or Toyota Center, for that matter.

Déjà Vu

So here we go again, Houstonians.

This time, it’s a professional soccer stadium on the drawing board. The Dynamo soccer team needs a place to play and the city has stepped up to help make it happen.

The city paid $15.5 million to purchase six blocks of mostly vacant land east of the George R. Brown Convention Center. Plans call for the county government and the Dynamo to come up with funding for most of the remainder of the $100 million project.

Advocates of the soccer stadium are touting the future economic benefits of building the Dynamo’s home field, saying it will “anchor development on the east side.” But don’t believe it.

The Dynamo stadium site is not going to be immediately surrounded by hotels and restaurants. And it may never be.

The land, bounded by Dowling, Hutchins, Walker and Texas Avenue, is mostly vacant now, except for a decent crop of weeds.

Anticipating Enron Field

When the Astros’ new stadium, known then as Enron Field, opened in 2000, land speculation was hot and heavy around the downtown stadium site, located at the corner of Crawford Street and Texas Avenue.

A 20-story tower called Ballpark Place was announced by Trammell Crow Co. for a site near left field. An investor named Yorum Vulkan floated plans for a 37-story condominium tower. Land prices around the stadium shot up to $150 per square foot, more than double of typical land prices today.

Not long after the Astros’ Opening Day, the land rush fizzled. And the hoped-for flood of new development amounted to only a dribble.

“Stadiums don’t do anything,” says veteran downtown land broker Reggie Bowman of R. Bowman Real Estate.

Some of the investors who use their land for parking lots earn a steady profit today from Minute Maid Park attendees, Bowman says. Otherwise, it would be hard to credit the baseball field for spawning much more than the Inn at the Ballpark hotel and the Lofts at the Ballpark apartments. For the most part, the dream of stadium-generated riches was Fool’s Gold.

Strength in Numbers

Although it will create no real estate boom, locating the Dynamo stadium near downtown has its advantages. The near-downtown location helps consolidate these public facilities in Houston’s central core.

Our leaders failed to do that when the South Loop site was chosen for Reliant Stadium and its adjacent convention center. Downtown would have been a better site for Reliant.

And it is a crime that Reliant’s convention facilities were not built near the George R. Brown Convention Center. Houston has been unable to attract the large top-tier conventions because our convention facilities are too small. Houston’s convention offering would be much more attractive if our two convention halls were adjacent to each other.

What if the Astrodome would have been built in downtown? Maybe it could still be a vital part of our public infrastructure, instead of a suburban orphan.

Ralph Bivins, former president of the National Association of Real Estate Editors, is editor-in-chief of RealtyNewsReport.com.