Dynamo stadium could open in 2010

The Chronicle has a few more details today about the proposed Houston Dynamo stadium downtown — but not many. What we know: It would be an open-air stadium seating somewhere around 22,000 people, and it would likely be built on Minute Maid Park's parking lot C, the six-square-block lot on the other side of Highway 59 from the baseball stadium. Anschutz Entertainment Group, which owns the Dynamo, would pay most of the construction costs, and the stadium would open for the 2010 season.

There won't be any specifics for a while, since everyone's still insisting this isn't a done deal — even though it seems like it's about as close to done as it can be. One thing Mayor Bill White is making clear, though, is that taxpayers won't bear the brunt of the stadium's estimated $70 to $80 million price tag: "The mayor has made it clear that this will work only with a substantial private investment," Dynamo President Oliver Luck said. White has already ruled out the idea of using property tax revenue to help finance the stadium, though sales and hotel occupancy taxes are still possibilities; the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority wouldn't have much to do with the deal because the proposed stadium site is on a long-term lease to the Astros.

Also up in the air: How the stadium will affect parking and traffic. The streets can apparently handle the traffic of several thousand people coming to the area — they do every time there's an Astros game — but it's not clear just where people will park. The stadium could be built on the largest parking lot in the area, and there's not much room around the proposed Dynamo stadium site — which is somewhat hemmed in by apartments, the freeway and a railroad track — to build a new mega-lot. A big garage could be the answer; we guess we'll know in mid-July, when the city's negotiations with the Dynamo are expected to wrap up. In the meantime, Astros management is withholding its comments: "We welcome more entertainment, arts, sports. All of those things are good for downtown," Astros President of Business Operations Pam Gardner said. "We'd be happy to have more to say once we know what the plan is."

Also in stadium-related news, the city has abandoned a plan to raze the Gus Wortham Golf Course in the East End to build a youth soccer and Dynamo practice facility there. The city still has to come up with a spot for the complex, though; one possible location is off Highway 288 and Reed Road, just south of the Loop.