Once a shrine to the world’s most popular soft drink, the building that housed the original World of Coca-Cola is being demolished to make way for a parking lot.
Crews continued the demolition on Friday at the site in downtown Atlanta near the state capitol. The building, which opened in 1990, will be replaced with parking spaces needed due to nearby construction projects.
Since 2007, visitors have flocked to a newer and larger Coca-Cola museum located in Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park. This new facility showcases the marketing prowess of the Atlanta-based beverage giant, offering visitors a chance to explore the company’s history and sample its drinks.
Centennial Olympic Park has become a hub for the city’s tourism industry, surrounded by hotels and attractions such as the Georgia Aquarium, the College Football Hall of Fame, the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, State Farm Arena, and the Georgia World Congress Center convention hall.
The state government purchased the original three-story museum from Coca-Cola in 2005 for $1 million, according to Gerald Pilgrim, deputy executive director of the Georgia Building Authority. The agency manages state properties, including the now-vacant museum.
The building, once Atlanta’s most visited indoor attraction, has been unused since Coca-Cola relocated in 2007. State officials decided to demolish it to create new parking spaces to replace those lost due to a construction staging area for a new legislative office building.
“With limited space around Capitol Hill, there was a need to replace the public parking that was being lost due to the neighboring construction project,” Pilgrim explained in an email on Friday.
Lawmakers recently approved $392 million to build a new eight-story legislative office building and renovate the 1889 Capitol building. This project is expected to begin soon and be completed by the end of 2026.
The demolition of the original Coca-Cola museum will cost just under $1.3 million and is projected to be complete by August 1.