The fizz is gone: Atlanta's former Coca-Cola museum demolished for parking lot

Workers knock down a former Coca-Cola Co. museum in downtown Atlanta on Friday, May 14, 2024. The World of Coca-Cola museum moved to a new site in downtown Atlanta in 2006 and Georgia state government is demolishing the vacant structure to turn it into a parking lot. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy)

Once a shrine to the world’s most popular soft drink, the building that housed the original World of Coca-Cola is going flat at the hands of Georgia’s state government.

Crews continued Friday to demolish the onetime temple of fizz in downtown Atlanta near the state capitol, with plans to convert the site to a parking lot.

Visitors since 2007 have taken their pause that refreshes across downtown at a newer, larger Coca-Cola Co. museum in Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park. The building is testament to the marketing mojo of the Atlanta-based beverage titan, getting visitors to pay to view the company’s take on its history and sample its drinks.