I agree that Baytown and Beaumont seem to be non-competitive as neither are destinations on their own to attract the 250,000 visitors the Texas foundation is targeting and it's hard to envision good locations in either place that is superior to what SJBG had.
Galveston seems the obvious choice as it already has the tourist traffic that Texas could mooch off of to hit that visitor count, but where to put her?
Despite the historical synergy with the two WW II vessels at Seawolf Park, it seems that Texas would be too exposed to bad weather (assuming no Ike dike) and Seawolf park is out of the way of the normal tourist traffic and doesn't have very good access or space to support 250,000+ annual visitors IMHO.
Not sure there is enough quayside near the Elissa that could be reconfigured and dedicated to hosting Texas and all the nearby channel traffic may pose other challenges.
Moody Gardens looks like it would need a lot of dredging and pier construction to accommodate the Texas and not sure it fits the "theme" of Moody Gardens. However that location and the proximity of Schlitterbahn certaintly provide built in tourist traffic.
Personally, I think long term the ship needs to be out of the water, otherwise it is going to need these types of repairs every 30 years or so. Getting her out of the water would also allow for more continuous access to the lower decks and more money for restoring the ship instead of it going towards keeping her afloat which I think is a losing battle given the historical committment and level of resources. So where could it go in Galveston where it is basically behind a coffer dam and easily accessible to tourists who visit Galveston? Alternatively maybe she gets the IJN Mikasa treatment?
Galveston seems the obvious choice as it already has the tourist traffic that Texas could mooch off of to hit that visitor count, but where to put her?
Despite the historical synergy with the two WW II vessels at Seawolf Park, it seems that Texas would be too exposed to bad weather (assuming no Ike dike) and Seawolf park is out of the way of the normal tourist traffic and doesn't have very good access or space to support 250,000+ annual visitors IMHO.
Not sure there is enough quayside near the Elissa that could be reconfigured and dedicated to hosting Texas and all the nearby channel traffic may pose other challenges.
Moody Gardens looks like it would need a lot of dredging and pier construction to accommodate the Texas and not sure it fits the "theme" of Moody Gardens. However that location and the proximity of Schlitterbahn certaintly provide built in tourist traffic.
Personally, I think long term the ship needs to be out of the water, otherwise it is going to need these types of repairs every 30 years or so. Getting her out of the water would also allow for more continuous access to the lower decks and more money for restoring the ship instead of it going towards keeping her afloat which I think is a losing battle given the historical committment and level of resources. So where could it go in Galveston where it is basically behind a coffer dam and easily accessible to tourists who visit Galveston? Alternatively maybe she gets the IJN Mikasa treatment?
