 Exterior of the churchc. 2005 | |
 Interactive map of Lakewood Church – Central Campus | |
| Former names | The Summit (1975–1998) Compaq Center (1998–2003) Lakewood International Center (2003–05 renovations) |
|---|---|
| Address | 3700Southwest Freeway |
| Location | Houston,Texas |
| Coordinates | 29°43′49″N95°26′6″W / 29.73028°N 95.43500°W /29.73028; -95.43500 |
| Owner | Lakewood Church |
| Capacity | 16,800 Basketball
Ice hockey
Indoor Soccer
|
| Scoreboard | Fair Play |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | December 1973 |
| Opened | November 1, 1975 |
| Closed | December 1, 2003 (as a sports arena) |
| Reopened | July 16, 2005 |
| Construction cost | US$27 million ($191 million in 2024 dollars[1]) |
| Architect |
|
| Structural engineer | Walter P Moore[2] |
| Tenants | |
| Houston Aeros (WHA) (1975–78) Houston Rockets (NBA) (1975–2003) Houston Summit (MISL) (1978–80) Houston Aeros (IHL/AHL) (1994–2003) Houston Hotshots (CISL) (1994–97) Houston Thunderbears/Texas Terror (AFL) (1996–2001) Houston Comets (WNBA) (1997–2003) Lakewood Church (2005–present) | |
Building details | |
| General information | |
| Renovated | 2004–2005 |
| Renovation cost | $95 million ($158 million in 2024 dollars[1]) |
| Renovating team | |
| Architects |
|
| Structural engineer | Walter P Moore |
| Services engineer | CHPA & Associates |
| Other designers |
|
| Main contractor | Tellepsen Builders |
TheLakewood Church Central Campus is the main facility ofLakewood Church, anon-denominationalevangelicalChristianmegachurch inHouston,Texas, five miles southwest ofDowntown Houston and next toGreenway Plaza.
From 1975 to 2003, the building served as a multi-purpose sports arena for professional teams, notably the NBA'sHouston Rockets. It was known asThe Summit until 1998, when technology firmCompaq boughtnaming rights and dubbed itCompaq Center. That name was dropped whenToyota Center opened as a new and more advanced professional sports venue in the same city,[3] and the building was leased to Lakewood Church. Seven years later, in 2010, the church bought the building outright.
In 1971, theNational Basketball Association'sSan Diego Rockets were purchased by new ownership group Texas Sports Investments, who moved the franchise to Houston. The city, however, lacked an indoor arena suitable to host a major sports franchise. The largest arena in the city at the time was 34-year-oldSam Houston Coliseum, but the Rockets would not even consider using it as a temporary facility. Plans were immediately undertaken to construct the new venue that would become The Summit. The Rockets played their home games in various local facilities such asHofheinz Pavilion and theAstrodome during the interim.[4]
Completed in 1975 at a cost of $18 million,[5] there was an Opening Night Spectacular called "Heart To Heart", benefitting theBaylor College of Medicine, The Methodist Hospital, and the Texas Heart Institute.[6] Andy Williams was the headliner for that evening's extravaganza. The Summit represented a lavish new breed of sports arena, replete with amenities, that would help the NBA grow from a second-tier professional sport into the multibillion-dollar entertainment industry that it is today.The Omni in Atlanta (now the site ofState Farm Arena),McNichols Sports Arena in Denver (now a parking lot forEmpower Field at Mile High), and theRichfield Coliseum in Richfield, Ohio (now an open meadow in the process of being reclaimed by forest) were all constructed during this period and remained in service until the continued growth of the NBA sparked a new arena construction boom in the late 1990s.
On each end of the arena was aFair-Play scoreboard with a small two-line monochrome message center. Both scoreboards would be upgraded in 1986 with the addition of three front-projection videoboards on top of each scoreboard. The center videoboard showed live game footage, fan shots, and replays while the left and right videoboards showed slides displaying advertisements for the Rockets' (and Aeros') sponsors.
The Summit housed the NBA'sRockets, the now defunct WHA/IHL/AHLAeros, the now also defunct WNBAComets, several now defunctarena football andIndoor soccer sports teams[7] until they vacated the arena in favor of the newToyota Center in downtown Houston. Additionally, the arena was a prime Houston venue for popular music concerts and special events such asRingling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, theHarlem Globetrotters,Sesame Street Live andDisney on Ice.[8]
TheNBA Finals were hosted by The Summit in 1981, 1986, 1994, and 1995, including the deciding games of 1994 and 1995, and the celebrations that followed. The Summit also hosted theWNBA championships of 1997 through 2000, all of which were won by the Houston Comets.
The firstprofessional wrestling event at the Summit was promoted byHouston Wrestling on May 29, 1977, headlined by theAmerican Wrestling Association World Heavyweight ChampionNick Bockwinkel drawingTerry Funk. On January 7, 1979,Dusty Rhodes won theNWA Texas Brass Knuckles Championship fromMark Lewin. TheWorld Wrestling Federation aired the first TV card from the venue on October 19, 1986, featuringHulk Hogan defending his title againstPaul Orndorff and a $50,000 tag team battle royal. It held theRoyal Rumble on January 15, 1989.[9] This was the first time theRoyal Rumble, won byBig John Studd, was televised onpay-per-view (PPV). The newly renamed Compaq Center hosted theNo Way Out of Texas PPV on February 15, 1998, andBad Blood (the first brand-exclusive PPV held in the United States) on June 15, 2003. It hosted a live episode ofSmackDown! on September 13, 2001, the first major entertainment event in the US after theSeptember 11 attacks.[10]
Prior to the construction ofCynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion and later, theToyota Center, the Summit was the main Houston venue for large pop and rock music concerts. Before the Summit was opened, most large venue concerts were held at theSam Houston Coliseum. Smaller concerts were held atHouston Music Hall orHofheinz Pavilion.
| Date | Artist | Opening act(s) | Tour / Concert name | Attendance | Revenue | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 20, 1975 | The Who | Toots and the Maytals | The Who Tour 1975 | — | — | The arena's first major rock concert. It was recorded and later released in 2012, asThe Who: Live in Texas '75. It is also featured on the "30 Years of Maximum R&B" DVD set.[5][11] |
| May 4, 1976 | Wings | — | Wings Over the World tour | — | — | Paul McCartney and Wings' second stop on the band's landmark North American tour, which also marked the former Beatle's second US performance since 1966. |
| October 31, 1976 | Parliament-Funkadelic | Bootsy's Rubber Band | P-Funk Earth Tour | — | — | The performance was recorded and released, asThe Mothership Connection – Live from Houston in 1986 and later rereleased on DVD, asGeorge Clinton: The Mothership Connection in 1998. A DVD of one of the opening acts,Bootsy's Rubber Band, was also released byP-Vine records. |
| November 6, 1976 | Eagles | — | Hotel California Tour | — | — | |
| November 25, 1976 | ZZ Top | Rory Gallagher | Worldwide Texas Tour | — | — | |
| November 26, 1976 | ||||||
| May 21, 1977 | Led Zeppelin | — | Led Zeppelin North American Tour 1977 | — | — | Bootleg recordings of this show exist. |
| May 23, 1977 | Bad Company | — | — | — | — | |
| June 24–25, 1977 | Aerosmith | — | Rocks Tour | — | — | Footage available onYouTube. |
| September 1–2, 1977 | KISS | Styx | Love Gun Tour | — | — | The presentations were recorded and are part of thefirst volume Kissology. |
| December 11, 1977 | Queen | — | News of the World Tour | — | — | The presentation was recorded and the fast video version of "We Will Rock You" was filmed here and other parts of the show have surfaced on Queen documentaries and is available readily on bootleg. |
| October 22, 1978 | Genesis (band) | — | ...and then there were three... World Tour | 16,800 / 16,800 | — | This performance was the last show during the North American leg of the tour. |
| December 8, 1978 | Bruce Springsteen & TheE Street Band | — | Darkness Tour | 12,003 / 15,000 | $98,925 | The show was released on DVD in 2010, as part ofThe Promise: TheDarkness on the Edge of Town Story box set.[12] |
| December 21, 1978 | Grateful Dead | Shakedown Street tour | Setlist[13] | |||
| June 30, 1979 | Bee Gees | Sweet Inspirations | Spirits Having Flown Tour | 16,654 / 16,654 | $231,285 | John Travolta, who was filmingUrban Cowboy, made a special appearance at the show. |
| November 25, 1979 | Billy Joel | Performed three songs from the yet-to-be-released "Glass Houses" | ||||
| December 9, 1980 | Kansas | — | Audiovisions Tour | — | ||
| July 2, 1981 | Grateful Dead | Summer Tour 81' | Setlist[14] | |||
| October 7, 1981 | Little River Band | — | Time Exposure | — | — | The concert was filmed and released on videotape (and eventually DVD) asLive Exposure. |
| November 5–6, 1981 | Journey | — | Escape Tour | 34,904 / 34,904 | $377,577 | The show on the 5th was recorded for later broadcast on theKing Biscuit Flower Hour.The show on the 6th was also recorded and shown onMTV, and part of the show was released as part of theirGreatest Hits Live album, and later released in full as a CD/DVD package, entitledLive in Houston 1981: The Escape Tour, in November 2005. |
| October 10, 1984 | Cyndi Lauper | The Bangles | Fun Tour | — | — | The performance at the Summit in Houston in October, 1984, provided the footage for her "Money Changes Everything" promotional video. The show was also broadcast locally over the radio that evening. |
| January 11–17, 1985 | Prince &The Revolution | – | Purple Rain Tour | 102,564 / 102,564 | $1,708,690 | |
| October 4, 1985 | Mötley Crüe | — | Welcome to the Theatre of Pain Tour | — | — | The concert portion of the original video for their big hit "Home Sweet Home" was shot. |
| January 15–16, 1987 | Genesis | — | Invisible Touch Tour | — | — | |
| April 8–10, 1988 | Michael Jackson | — | Bad World Tour | — | — | Only a few songs have been released professionally. |
| July 14, 1988 | Run-DMC | Public Enemy,DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince,EPMD,J. J. Fad | Run's House Tour | – | – | – |
| October 20, 1988 | Grateful Dead | Southern Tour 88' | Setlist[15] | |||
| June 11, 1989 | N.W.A | Too Short Kid 'n Play KwaméSir Mix-a-Lot J. J. Fad | Straight Outta Compton Tour | – | – | – |
| August 22, 1989 | Metallica | The Cult | Damaged Justice | — | — | — |
| April 15–16, 1990 | Janet Jackson | Chuckii Booker | Rhythm Nation World Tour 1990 | 27,082 / 30,000 | $506,903 | – |
| May 4–5, 1990 | Madonna | Technotronic | Blond Ambition World Tour | 31,427 / 31,427 | $881,245 | — |
| August 11, 1990 | MC Hammer | After 7,Michel'le,Oaktown's 3.5.7 | Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em World Tour | |||
| November 21, 1990 | En Vogue,Vanilla Ice | |||||
| June 12, 1992 | MC Hammer | Jodeci,TLC,Oaktown 357,Mary J. Blige | Too Legit to Quit World Tour | |||
| June 13, 1992 | ||||||
| August 25, 1994 | Whitney Houston | – | The Bodyguard World Tour | – | – | |
| September 30, 1994 | Aerosmith | — | Get a Grip Tour | 16,162 / 16,162 | $434,700 | The live portions of "Blind Man" were filmed at this show. |
| January 25, 1996 | AC/DC | The Poor | Ballbreaker World Tour | |||
| September 26, 1997 | Mary J. Blige | Usher | Share My World Tour | |||
| November 1, 1999 | Limp Bizkit,Primus,Filter,Staind,Method Man & Redman | Family Values Tour 1999[16] | ||||
| November 7, 1999 | Ricky Martin | Jessica Simpson | Livin' la Vida Loca Tour | |||
| February 8, 2001 | Kid Rock | Buckcherry Fuel | American Badass Tour[17] | — | — | — |
| August 4, 2001 | 3LW Nelly and theSt. Lunatics | MTV's TRL Tour | ||||
| October 14, 2002 | American Idol season 1 finalists | — | American Idols LIVE! Tour 2002 | — | — | — |
| January 22, 2003 | Shakira | — | Tour of the Mongoose | 12,735 / 12,735 | $702,205 | — |
| November 22, 2003 | ZZ Top | Los Lobos Cross Canadian Ragweed | Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers Tour | — | — | This was the last concert at the arena, before it was renovated into a church.[5] |
In 1998, it became the first Houston sports arena to sell its naming rights. The Arena Operating Company entered into a five-year, $900,000 per year deal with then Houston-basedCompaq Computer Corporation to change the name of the venue from The Summit to Compaq Center, keeping that name even after the acquisition of Compaq byHewlett-Packard in 2002 (there was another arena named the Compaq Center inSan Jose, California around this time, but has since been renamed theSAP Center). The length of the agreement was significant, because in 2003 the lease that Arena Operating Company held on Compaq Center would expire, and the tenants of the building were lobbying vigorously for the construction of a new downtown venue to replace the aging and undersized arena.
When the sports teams moved to the newToyota Center in 2003, theCity of Houston leased the arena toLakewood Church, amegachurch, which invested $95 million in renovations to convert the arena into the current configuration of seats and rooms for its needs; the renovations took over 15 months to complete, and the renovations included adding five stories to add more capacity.[18] During the lease,Lakewood Church had an exclusive agreement with theCity of Houston for use of the former Summit, and as such, invested heavily in the structure for its use.[5] In 2001, the church signed a 30-year lease with the city.[19]
In March 2010, the church announced that it would buy the campus outright from the city of Houston for $7.5 million, terminating the lease after 7 years.[20] Marty Aaron, a real estate appraiser, said that although an "untrained eye" would "wonder howLakewood Church purchased the Compaq Center for $7.5 million, [actually] this is not really an arms-length sale from the city to Lakewood Church." Aaron explained that the church "put a phenomenal amount of money into the facility after the lease was initially structured, and it's really not fair that someone else would get the benefit of that." Aaron added that converting the property to a stadium-oriented facility "would probably cost as much or more than it took to turn it into a church, and right now there are probably not very many organizations that would be willing to step forward and do that."[19] TheHouston City Council was scheduled to vote on the matter on Wednesday March 24, 2010.[21] City council delayed the vote.[22] On March 30 of that year, Ronald Green, the city's chief financial officer, said that he approved of the sale of the building.[23] On March 31, 2010, the Houston City Council voted 13–2 to sell the property to Lakewood.[24]
| Preceded by | Home of the Houston Rockets 1975–2002 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Home of the Houston Aeros 1975–1979 | Succeeded by last arena |
| Preceded by first arena | Home of the Houston Summit 1978–1980 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Kungliga tennishallen Stockholm | Masters Cup Venue 1976 | Succeeded by Madison Square Garden New York |
| Preceded by first arena | Home of the Houston Aeros 1994–2003 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by first arena | Home of the Houston Hotshots 1993–1997–1999 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by first arena | Home of the Houston Thunderbears 1996–2001 | Succeeded by last arena |
| Preceded by first arena | Home of the Houston Comets 1997–2002 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by 7317 E. Houston Road | Home of Lakewood Church Central Campus 2005–present | Succeeded by current |
Authority control databases: Geographic |
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