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It鈥檚 beyond clich茅 that the look and feel of Seattle is changing. Hardly a week goes by, it seems, without some beloved building getting torn down or some longtime local business shutting its doors. Sometimes it makes you wonder, is this is the price we pay for having a booming economy, and for living in a city that鈥檚 always been far more interested in its future than its past?

For Tacoma-based historian , the fast pace of change and seemingly unlimited flow of money into the area have created a boom time of historic proportions, on par with other outsized dynamic periods in Seattle鈥檚 past.

鈥淩ight now is a very hard time in Seattle’s history, I would think,鈥� Sullivan said. 鈥淚t’s like the middle of the Gold Rush. It’s a very hard time to get people to think long-term either looking back or looking forward. Everybody is very captivated and just enchanted by the moment, and marveling at what’s going on around them,鈥� Sullivan said. 鈥淚t’s like we’re in the middle of a World’s Fair.鈥�

And now, in the middle of this combined gold rush and World鈥檚 Fair, the merits of preserving two distinctive and very different structures are being weighed by the City of Seattle. On Wednesday, the building occupied by Mama’s Mexican Cantina was designated as a historic landmark. And by later this year, the KeyArena could literally have a new lease on life, and be on its way to becoming the next home of the NBA, as well as an NHL franchise.

During a meeting at City Hall, the decided Mama’s meets the to be protected along with other .

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Steve Hall, a community organizer and spokesman for the volunteer group Friends of , says the building on the corner of Second Avenue and Bell Street has already achieved a special status on its own, for the function it has served in the community for more than 40 years.

鈥淢ama鈥檚 is definitely already a landmark [in the unofficial sense],鈥� Hall said. 鈥淚t’s kind of one of those things that if you say, ‘Meet me at Mama’s,鈥� kind of like the pig at the Market, it鈥檚 just one of those places that is known in the community, and important to the community character.鈥�

The owner of Mama鈥檚 closed the restaurant and sold the building last year to . New owners of the 鈥淢ama鈥檚鈥� name reopened the restaurant (now called ) with a new menu, and had planned to operate it there until the building was torn down, and then open once again in a new building to be built on the same site.

Though a new building will still be developed, Mama’s facade will be incorporated into the design, according to Hall.

Friends of Historic Belltown supported the designation of Mama鈥檚. The group knows its way around the city landmark process. They formed in 2015 to support the landmark designation of the building next door to Mama鈥檚, the . 鈥淭he place that looks like Popeye lives there,鈥� Hall said.

Developers who鈥檇 purchased the Wayne were required by state law to file the necessary paperwork to determine whether or not the building met the criteria for becoming a Seattle Landmark. Hall and dozens of supporters backed the designation and were successful in convincing the Landmark Board that the Wayne merited designation.

Hall says that the owners of the Wayne were then required to negotiate with the City of Seattle. The wording of the ordinance is, 鈥渢he Board staff shall attempt to commence negotiations with the owner on the application of controls and incentives to the site, improvement, or object, regarding the specific features or characteristics identified in the Board’s .

Steve Hall laments the adversarial nature of preservation campaigns that pit community groups like his against property owners and developers, and wishes there was a different path to common ground.

鈥淭hese places that are just visual anchors of the community, those are what we’re trying to protect and not necessarily stop development,鈥� Hall said. 鈥淎nd I think it’s an asset and I would like it if developers would see these iconic and historic buildings as an asset, too, which is great for their business, rather than a liability to be dealt with.鈥�

Even with Mama鈥檚 designated as a landmark, the owner and the city must then reach an agreement about how to preserve the historic elements 鈥� going through the same process as the Wayne Apartments. And, though it鈥檚 complicated and can take years, the owner can still tear down a landmark if it can be demonstrated that operating it within the constraints of the landmark designation creates a .

is a professor of architecture at the University of Washington. He鈥檚 studied Seattle鈥檚 landmark ordinance and authored books on local architects and architecture. He says the ordinance is limited in its scope because it doesn鈥檛 dictate to a property owner how a landmark can be used.

鈥淭he ordinance does not allow [the Landmarks Board] to legally protect use, they have the right to deal [only] with material fabric,鈥� Ochsner said. 鈥淪o it鈥檚 a challenge, because people could get up and talk about whether or not that building should be protected and they can talk about the importance of Mama鈥檚 the restaurant, and the neighborhood and all that stuff, [but] the question comes down to, well, if the restaurant were to close, is the building still significant as a physical entity in the neighborhood?鈥�

A few blocks away from Mama鈥檚 is one of the original buildings from the Century 21 Exposition, that momentous event better known as the 1962 Seattle World鈥檚 Fair. This particular building is part of the Seattle Center and it鈥檚 owned by the City of Seattle. It would probably qualify as an official Seattle landmark, but it鈥檚 never been nominated.

Nowadays known as KeyArena, the venue was built as the Washington State Pavilion for the fair. It housed an exhibit imagining the future called 鈥淭he World of Tomorrow,鈥� which was the original home to the , a spherical Plexiglas elevator that was later moved to what鈥檚 now the Armory, and which then ended up as a terrarium in Richmond Beach. You can鈥檛 make this stuff up!

After the fair, the facility became known as the Seattle Center Coliseum, original home of the basketball team, and a venue for concerts (for such artists as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and countless Bumbershoot acts), ice hockey, and various political events and other spectacles over the years.

The Coliseum was remodeled in the mid 1990s and renamed KeyArena in a deal with Key Bank. The renovation, made mostly at the behest of the Sonics, included removal of 35 feet of soil to lower the floor of the arena, allowing for more seats and the addition of luxury suites. In spite of the changes to the interior of the building, the exterior, including giant distinctive concrete trusses and the look of the roof, remain intact.

The Sonics played their last home game at KeyArena in 2008 before moving to Oklahoma City. In the meantime, the Seattle Storm has played there, and the facility has hosted numerous other events. Until very recently, an arena project in SoDo promoted by Chris Hansen appeared to have the momentum and dollars necessary to be the next likely home for the NBA and the NHL, but recent developments seem to have muddied these waters somewhat.

One of the recent developments is a 鈥淩equest For Proposals鈥� or for KeyArena that was issued last week by the City of Seattle.

The new RFP, surprisingly, includes an option for the demolition of the structure. While it clearly indicates a preference for proposals that preserve the original structure, language in the RFP also states that 鈥渁ny proposer may also submit a second proposal for construction of a new facility to maximized the Redevelopment Site鈥檚 potential.鈥�

This 鈥渃onstruction of a new facility鈥� option 鈥� that is, to demolish KeyArena 鈥� caught many regular people (and probably some local preservationists, too) off guard.

One person who wasn鈥檛 caught off guard is Eugenia Woo, director of preservation services for the not-for-profit group .

鈥淚t didn’t surprise me, but we’re annoyed,鈥� Woo said, with a wry chuckle. 鈥淭he whole [RFP] talks about reuse, renovation, and it talks about the historic context study that was done that clearly shows [KeyArena] was landmark-eligible. And then there’s this line in there that they threw in like, 鈥極h, by the way, if you want to present a second proposal for tear-down, we’ll look at that too.鈥� That just should not be an option.鈥�

A lot of people think that demolishing KeyArena shouldn鈥檛 be an option.

The structure was designed by Paul Thiry, a graduate of the University of Washington and one of the first local practitioners to embrace modern architecture. Thiry was active on local planning commissions, and in 1957 was named the lead architect for what became the Seattle World鈥檚 Fair.

Jeffrey Karl Ochsner says there鈥檚 no question about Thiry鈥檚 significance as an architect, which bolster KeyArena鈥檚 chances of being designated a landmark.

鈥淧aul Thiry is one of the most important modern architects in the history of Seattle,鈥� Ochsner said. Beginning in the late 1940s, Ochsner says, Thiry designed a number of notable modern buildings, including the original MOHAI in Montlake and the original Frye Museum on Capitol Hill, and so the appointment to direct site planning and architecture for what became a futuristic fair made perfect sense.

鈥淗e was connected in a political sense, as well as identified with technologically modern buildings,鈥� Ochsner said.

Michael Sullivan also believes Thiry is a significant figure in Northwest architecture, but one who perhaps hasn鈥檛 received the accolades he deserves. Sullivan co-authored a of landmarks and potential landmarks at Seattle Center, including those already designated by the Landmarks Board, such as the Pacific Science Center and the Space Needle.

鈥淚 think you could maybe argue that the Science Center is the more elegant, more graceful, more masterful sort of architectural work and the Space Needle, from an engineering standpoint, is more of a showpiece,鈥� Sullivan said. 鈥淏ut the Coliseum was the crafted work of a brilliant guy, and I think in the future we’ll recognize more and more how important Thiry was.鈥�

In addition to Thiry鈥檚 significance, it鈥檚 hard to overstate the impact of the 1962 World鈥檚 Fair in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, and, by extension, KeyArena鈥檚 role in that singular event 鈥� which is also a factor consistent with landmark ordinance designation criteria. Jeffrey Karl Ochsner has studied the fair and lectured about its unique legacy for years.

鈥淭he legacy of the fair is that there were a series of buildings that fostered a series of cultural developments in this city,鈥� Ochsner said. 鈥淲hat happens in most cities is cultural groups are formed and then they look for facilities. In Seattle we had facilities 鈥� buildings [at Seattle Center after the fair] 鈥� and the cultural groups were formed to take advantage of them. So it really fostered a cultural efflorescence after the fair that is quite remarkable.鈥�

Ochsner says that as the Opera House (a building renovated for the fair and later rebuilt as McCaw Hall) helped launched Pacific Northwest Ballet, so, too, did the Coliseum help make it possible to bring the original Sonics to Seattle in 1967, and so much more. Ochsner says one of his strongest memories of the Coliseum was a Neil Diamond concert.

鈥淭he place was packed, and he could still sing even though he was getting older,鈥� Ochsner said. 鈥淭hat was a pretty powerful event to see that in that space.鈥�

鈥淚 realize that’s gonna make me sound like I’m a million years old,鈥� Ochsner said, laughing.

On a recent call-out for KeyArena memories via social media, dozens of people responded, listing visits to the World of Tomorrow and a ride on the Bubbleator, Sonics games and Seattle Totems hockey games, an eclectic range of concerts covering nearly every genre of music from Jethro Tull to Macklemore, political rallies for Hubert Humphrey and Barack Obama, and even taking the bar exam.

And as far as the law is concerned, Eugenia Woo says that as part of any plans for KeyArena, the City of Seattle will be required to nominate the structure to be considered as a landmark. She鈥檚 confident that it will be designated, and she says that Historic Seattle is 鈥渉opeful鈥� that KeyArena will be preserved and renovated by one of the companies likely to respond to the RFP.

Meanwhile, Michael Sullivan worries that the Gold Rush and World鈥檚 Fair atmosphere in Seattle will continue to threaten even more places around the city.

Sullivan says that from a 鈥渞eally big picture standpoint,鈥� there are dangers in 鈥渃reating a city that is of a single moment, of a single period and technology, and of a single design.鈥� It poses a threat to the civic fabric, he says, when all that technology fails or when that design goes out of fashion in all those square blocks at the same time, at some point in the not-so-distant future.

鈥淭he way enduring cities that last over time are like rotating crops,鈥� Sullivan said. 鈥淵ou want to always have elements from the past, elements of the new, and have them all be feathered into the city so there’s a healthy life cycle that goes on over a long period of time.鈥�

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