Historic buildings anchor a city's identity, but developers see dollar signs in their footprints—so should preservation trump new construction? As an architect in Savannah, I've watched 19th-century row houses fall to glass condos because owners claim restoration costs triple the demolition price. Yet adaptive reuse of our old cotton warehouses has actually drawn more tourism revenue per square foot than any new build downtown. I admit not every structure is worth saving, especially ones with failing foundations or no cultural weight, and the planning board here did approve tear-downs for two windowless 70s office blocks last year. The real question is whether we let short-term profit erase the physical memory that makes a place worth visiting—I lean yes to protecting them, but the economics unsettle me when budgets run tight.