We've lost so many viable historic buildings to proposed developments that were a "higher/better" use of the land. Some buildings got constructed while others fell through, but in all cases future generations have cursed their predecessors for forever taking away these connections to their history before they even had a chance to see them with their own eyes; all in the name of "progress". Even if something does get built here within the next decade, it would never make up for taking away a piece of our puzzle—something that helps make us 'us'. Like you said, it's warehouses like this one that make this the Warehouse District at all.
When we have no tangible connections to our past, and the only evidence we have of the people who came before us and our city's evolution are place names and old grainy photos, then we have a far shallower connection with our community. It's far harder to take pride in a community when there's nothing there to remind you that people have dedicated their lives to building it up for more than a century. And when we lose all of the buildings where those people lived, worked, and gathered, it's only a matter of time until their stories are all but forgotten.
