In April 2000, in an implosion that lasted 16.8 seconds, Seattle's Kingdome, the world's largest concrete dome structure, was demolished with 22 miles of detonation cord and 5,900 gelatin dynamite explosives.

It will take four months to clean up the rubble. CNN writer Jack Hamann described the cloud of concrete fragments barreling straight into the heart of downtown as "looking ever so much like the explosion of Mount Saint Helens."

As business advisor Karen Bredfeldt once put it, "Change is disruptive-- that's the point!"

The 24-year-old landmark will be replaced by an open-air football and soccer stadium, part of an ambitious construction boom in the city. Scheduled for completion in 2002, the new 67,000 seat Seahawk home will be called the Washington State Football/Soccer Stadium and paid for with $300 million in public funds and $130 million from Seahawks owner and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. The public funds are from hotel room tax, state lottery games, and parking and admissions taxes.

The Kingdome was built in 1976 for $67 million. Over the years it has been dubbed "the mushroom" and "concrete cupcake." Fans complained that it was too small for football and too large for baseball.

Calling it "aesthetically challenged," Seattle historian Walt Crowley said, "The Kingdome was a victim of its main virtue: utilitarianism. It was such a basic, unadorned place for sports. I don't know anyone who is sad to see it go."

One person who was sad to see it go was Kingdome's public-relations director, Carol Keaton, who held the job since 1976, when the building opened. She said in December 1999, "It's like an impending death. First you're in denial, then anger. I can visualize myself jogging in place in my office (when the building is demolished) and yelling, 'I'm not finished yet.'"

Change generates inconvenience... and growth.