The way we were...the Miami Arena opened 25 years ago this week

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July 2, 1988: With the opening of the Miami Arena just days away, the Miami News carried these headlines:

"$52 million gamble opens Friday"

and....

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Zev Bufman, co-owner of the Miami Heat, told the News that "upscale bars and restaurants" would soon dot the area around the Arena and "the streets will bustle with nightlife."

Miami News, July 2, 1988.

The Heat played its first game at  the Arena on Nov. 5, 1988.

Eleven years later, on Dec. 26, 1999 - just two days before the Heat's final game in the Arena - the Miami Herald's Barbara De Lollis wrote:

The 1988 opening of the peach-pink Miami Arena was hailed as a salvation for Miami 's dying downtown.

But a host of factors, from its dated design to a real estate crash, reduced the city-owned venue into another false hope. The arena attracted little investment besides subsidized housing and a sports bar that failed. Downtown stayed desolate after dark.

Yet supporters say Miami has another chance for change in 2000 with the $213 million AmericanAirlines Arena, built within eyeshot of the $52.5 million Miami Arena. Dusting off last decade's great expectations, proponents say the arena will help enliven downtown within the next three or so years.

Twenty years after the Miami Arena opened, it was torn down

September 21, 2008, the roof of the Miami Arena was imploded. While the exterior walls remained standing after the implosion, demolition continued until the falling of the west wall on October 21, 2008.