Houston area voters reject Astrodome rehabilitation plan

HOUSTON, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- Voters in Harris County, Texas, Tuesday voted not to save Houston's Astrodome from demolition, rejecting plans to convert it to a convention center.

Proposition 2, which would have put $217 million into the run-down structure to convert it into a massive convention and event center and exhibition space, failed by 47 percent to 53 percent with 67 percent of precincts reporting, KTRK-TV, Houston, reported.

"The New Dome Experience" would have create 350,000 square feet of exhibition space by removing the stadium's seats and raising the floor to street level, but the so-called Eighth Wonder of the World likely will now be torn down, Houston leaders have said.

The Astrodome last hosted a major team -- the Houston Oilers -- in 1999 and was shut down completely in 2009. It served as a shelter for Hurricane Katrina evacuees in 2005.