That whole block is located just off of the core part of downtown Seattle (3 blocks from city hall and muni tower; 1 from Smith Tower), but currently filled wit

That whole block is located just off of the core part of downtown Seattle (3 blocks from city hall and muni tower; 1 from Smith Tower), but currently filled with little shops in a small building. A coffee shop next door moved across the street to expand and switch from a short building to a slightly taller, somewhat newer one. Downtown Seattle has pushed about as far North as it can, and is starting to expand South (past the government and banking towers) as well. Most of these shops are just going to shuffle into new spaces or be replaced by other little shops in new spaces. It's unfortunate, because the neighborhood is old, but there's limits to how much poorly developed land we can hold in the core of downtown. I expect everything from downtown to the stadiums is going to become towers just like SLU did -- because the core of the city needs the space. We'll probably keep a touristy section along the water (just like now) and the core of Pioneer Square, Smith Tower itself, etc. But these kinds of small shops need to move or find a business model that fits with the new density. I might feel differently if it were a park than a bookshop -- but I don't really feel that bad that a small, niche store got pushed out of the core of downtown so the property could develop.