Astros Owner Jim Crane yesterday said that the team, in its 17th year of a 30-year lease with Harris County Houston Sports Authority, is "in talks with officials to ensure that" Minute Maid Park can be "kept up to date for the next round of lease negotiations," according to David Barron of the HOUSTON CHRONICLE. Crane said, "We want to stay here, and we want to have enough funds to continue to repair the building and keep it in tip top condition like it is now. We've been contributing a lot of those funds, and as the project got bigger and bigger, we went to the sports authority and they have been very helpful." Meanwhile, the Astros "have acquired an 18-square-foot tract alongside the center field entrance that now is occupied" by New Hope Housing's Hamilton Street Houses. The team "will take possession" in '17. Crane said that the land will be used to "expand the Diamond Club parking lot and to extend the lot's driveway to Congress Avenue to improve the traffic flow for fans." Crane said that as development continues on the east side of downtown Houston, the Astros "are talking to other landowners about buying property for more parking and to secure options." Astros Senior VP/Business Operations Marcel Braithwaite said that plans continue behind the scenes for the eventual center field expansion "that was postponed last fall." He added that the current construction timeline "will allow work to take place during the offseason in time for the Astros to host their annual college tournament," the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic, next year. Braithwaite also said that the proposed Astros HOF is now "planned at the current location of the team store in Union Station" but plans are "still being tweaked." (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 4/12).
