100 acres, 1300 buildings, and 413 businesses were wiped away by demolition in the "revitalization" project for the Hill. Rather than bringing housing projects to the area to replace those that were demolished, the clearings made way for commercial and cultural projects. The first and only of these was the city's Civic Arena, which opened in 1961 to house the Civic Light Opera. Community opposition, financial constraints, and local leaders’ decisions led to a halt in development of the cleared land. In 1968, race riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. caused further disinvestment in the Hill District.