Mercer Arena

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The Mercer Arena is a performing arts venue at Seattle Center, though the Arena predates the rest of the Seattle Center by about 35 years. Initially conceived as just an ice-arena, its features bloomed into a large multi-purpose venue. Before 2000, its design as a multi-purpose venue allowed it to host to an average of 183 events each year. From 2000 to 2003, it was used as a temporary venue for the Seattle Opera and Pacific Northwest Ballet during construction of the new opera house. Since then, it has sat empty.

It was built in 1927 with an auditorium next door (where the Seattle Opera House is now) under the name Seattle Civic Center. It was nicknamed "the House of Suds" because of the large underwriting contribution of local tavern owner, James Osborne. The name changed to Seattle Center Arena after the Century 21 Exposition (1962 World's Fair). In 1995 the name changed again, to the Mercer Arena (the arena is on Mercer Street), when the Seattle Center Colliseum was renamed to KeyArena.

For concerts, it has a maximum capacity of 8,000 (or 5,000 in seats), an ideal niche between nightclubs and theatres, the largest of which seat a few thousand, and the much larger KeyArena, which seats 15,000.

Currently, it needs millions of dollars in repairs, and potentially $20 million dollars to modernize seismic protection and general safety. Live Nation (formerly Clear Channel Entertainment) has sought to lease the building for concerts, up to 80 per year, but that use would require subsidies from the city for the repairs and ongoing maintenance. The Seattle Opera has also proposed taking over the building. They would renovate its use for set construction and storage, as well as office space. This use would eliminate the Arena from being used as a performance venue.