Mercer Arena facts for kids
Outside of the closed Mercer Arena in 2007
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| Former names | Exposition Building Civic Ice Arena Seattle Center Arena |
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| Address | 363 Mercer Street |
| Location | Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Capacity | 5000 |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1927 |
| Closed | 2003 |
| Demolished | 2017 |
| Tenants | |
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The Mercer Arena was a famous building in Seattle, Washington. It was a place where many different events happened, like sports games and concerts. Before it was called Mercer Arena, it had other names: the Exposition Building, Civic Ice Arena, and Seattle Center Arena.
This arena was built in 1927 and cost about $1 million. It was located on Mercer Street and 4th Avenue North. The Mercer Arena was around for a long time, about 35 years before the Seattle Center Coliseum was built. Sadly, the Mercer Arena was taken down in 2017.
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A Look Inside Mercer Arena's History
From Ice Rink to Multi-Sport Venue
The Mercer Arena was first planned to be an ice skating rink. But it quickly became a place for many different kinds of events. People sometimes called it "the House of Suds." This was because a local tavern owner, James Osborne, gave a lot of money to help build it.
After the 1962 World's Fair (called the Century 21 Exposition), its name changed to Seattle Center Arena. Then, in 1995, it became the Mercer Arena. This new name helped avoid confusion with another building, the Seattle Center Coliseum, which was then called KeyArena. The arena was very busy, hosting about 183 events every year!
Home to Many Sports Teams
The Mercer Arena was home to several sports teams over the years. From 1962 to 1974, the Seattle Totems hockey team played there. Later, the Seattle Thunderbirds, another hockey team, used the arena from 1977 to 1995. They sometimes still played there even after moving to the Coliseum.
In 1995, the Seattle SeaDogs indoor soccer team played at Mercer Arena. From 1996 to 1998, it was also the home of the Seattle Reign, Seattle's first professional women's basketball team.
A Temporary Stage for Arts
From 2000 to 2003, the arena had a special job. It became a temporary home for the Seattle Opera and Pacific Northwest Ballet. This happened while their usual home, McCaw Hall, was being built.
About $6 million was spent to make the arena ready for the opera. They added new heating and cooling systems, an orchestra pit, and carpet. Old pipes that once froze water for the ice rink were removed. The ceiling was also changed to make the sound better for performances. Since this was only a temporary home, some bigger problems with the building were not fixed. Because of these issues, the arena closed down after 2003.
When concerts were held there, the arena could fit between 5,000 and 8,000 people. This depended on how the seats were arranged. After it closed in 2003, the building sat empty until it was torn down in 2017.
What Happened to Mercer Arena?
After the arena closed, there were ideas about what to do with the building. In 2007, the mayor suggested turning it into a space for the Seattle Opera. The plan was for it to have offices, rehearsal rooms, and workshops. Since it shared a wall with McCaw Hall, opera sets could be built there and moved right onto the stage. This would have been a unique feature for an opera company.
However, a big economic downturn in the late 2000s (the Great Recession) put these plans on hold. In 2016, the Seattle Opera announced new plans. They would build a brand new $60 million facility called the Seattle Opera at the Center. This new building would be four stories tall and have lots of space for offices, storage, and community areas. The old Mercer Arena, which was no longer safe to use, was finally demolished in 2017 to make way for this new project.
