ATLANTA — When Atlanta beat Athens, Greece, to become host of the centennial Olympic Games, the city and its suburbs grew at a pace so frenzied that some say it could only be slowed by a recession a decade later.

A building boom reverberated long after a weakened but determined Muhammad Ali set ablaze the Olympic cauldron as billions watched on television in the summer of 1996.

It continued long after the cauldron became roadside decor near the site of the former Olympic Stadium, now Turner Field.

Growth reached far beyond the downtown, well into the city’s suburbs, where venues were scattered.

Nearly two decades later, the Games’ imprint seems indelible, with some facilities still credited for bringing events – and money – into Georgia.

But not everything about the Olympic legacy is gilded. Concrete crumbles from forgotten venues. Even now, some criticize how the city handled itself.

Such discordant notes didn’t inspire much confidence in Boston, where organizers of a nascent bid for the 2024 Games folded their efforts this week amid controversy over costs and taxpayer liabilities.

The U.S. Olympic Committee, unable to win assurances from local leaders that the Games could proceed no matter what, decided to look elsewhere for a host.

But those involved in the Atlanta Games and who’ve studied their effects say the Olympics in the city “too busy to hate” are difficult to compare to other Games, past or present, especially given the growth they ushered. The Games cost $2.4 billion to plan and stage, according to a federal government report, with much of that underwritten by private investment.

“I think we succeeded in what we wanted to do, which was to attract attention and investment to Atlanta. And that, I think, has had benefits for the central city as well as its suburbs,” said Harvey Newman, a professor at Georgia State University who has studied the impact of the 1996 Games.

‘Huge impact’

Some of the most tangible traces of the Atlanta Olympics – the venues – debuted nearly 20 years ago with plans for a long, productive life.

Some lived up to that aspiration and even continue to hold events.

A facility built for rowing competition on Lake Lanier, 50 miles north of the epicenter of the Games, still flourishes.

The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games invested $10 million in turning a fishing and swimming hole into a major attraction for Gainesville, and it continues to pump millions into the local economy.

“We knew if we played our cards right we would have a beautiful venue that we could use for years. And we have,” said Jim Mathis, a local leader.

Mathis said bringing the venue to Lake Lanier took work. Gainesville was not the first choice for the rowing event. It wasn’t even second.

But locals including Mathis persisted in their lobbying and were rewarded by a facility that includes an observation tower, boathouses, temporary seating and other features.  

Local government fronted $1.5 million for permanent seating and other improvements aimed at courting more canoe and kayak competitions. A nonprofit that runs the venue is working to broaden its appeal to attract weddings, concerts and other events.

More upgrades, to the tune of $10 million, are planned over the next several years to outfit the facility for major events, such as the Pan-American sprint canoe championships that will be held there next spring.

“The Olympics really did make a huge impact on those sports here,” said Morgan House, the venue manager and a sprint kayaker.

The lake’s course has earned a reputation for winds that affect everyone fairly, he said. Collegiate teams and other groups routinely train and compete there.

‘Just sitting there’

But not all facilities have lived up to their Olympic promise.

Fifteen miles from the empty cauldron, another venue awaits its potential end.

The Stone Mountain Tennis Center, where U.S. teams won three gold medals in the summer of 1996, has been closed since 2007.

The center was one of the “world-class facilities” poised to “serve the community well into the 21st Century,” according to an economic impact study published the year before the Olympics.

Now, the organization responsible for the facility, the Stone Mountain Memorial Association, is waiting until it has the $2.4 million needed to raze it.

“It’s still just sitting there,” said Bill Stephens, the association’s chief executive officer.

Not everyone accepts demolition as inevitable.

Jim Brooks, director of the Evermore Community Improvement District, which manages revenue from a special regional tax, is championing the redevelopment of the site.

He described the building and its land as “one of the most critical parcels that we have,” with potential to influence development in southern Gwinnett County.

Brooks said the facility failed as a tennis center for a number of reasons including a lack of parking. Most spectators who flooded the center during the Olympics arrived by buses using a special temporary route.

The center’s layout also is not conducive for large tournaments, he said. The stadium has the seating capacity for 11,000 people but only a little more than a dozen courts.

Such abandoned venues, called white elephants, aren’t uncommon in Olympic cities.

Even Atlanta’s former Olympic Stadium, recast as Turner Field and home to baseball’s Atlanta Braves for nearly two decades, is a doomed relic. The stadium is slated for demolition once the Braves vacate downtown for the suburbs in 2017.

Hotel rooms

While former Olympic venues may be among the most visible reminders, the Games had a broader impact that is more difficult to define.

Following the 1990 announcement that Atlanta would host the Games, its population swelled from nearly 3 million people to 4.1 million, according to U.S. Census, with most of those people flocking to areas outside the city.

During the decade that followed, Atlanta was among the fastest growing metro areas in the country.

The growth was so intense it became difficult to track, said Newman, the professor.

He hones in on one aspect

of growth that is more easily quantifiable and related to tourism –

hotel rooms. When Atlanta’s bid

was accepted, the metro area had about 50,000 hotel rooms. The number doubled in the decade that followed.

“That was just a frantic hotel building boom, most of which was built outside of Atlanta,” he said.

Many rooms awaited spectators in communities just north of the city. In Gwinnett County alone, more than two-dozen new hotels popped up from 1995 to 1997.

Lisa Anders, executive director of the county’s convention and visitors bureau, said the Olympics were a “huge part of the rapid hotel growth.” But, she added, much of that would likely have happened anyway.

“I think the hotels still would have opened, but at a much more leisurely pace,” she said.

Growth spurt

Hotels were just part of the development happening throughout the area. Other major projects, with long-lasting effects, occurred during that time.

The airport added a new international concourse and made other

upgrades for domestic travel. A

centerpiece of the Games – the

privately funded, $75 million Centennial Olympic Park – spurred significant development in downtown.

This was in an addition to a

slew of smaller projects, like $11

million in improvements at the

Martin Luther King Jr. historic site, which came with construction schedules geared toward the 1996 Games.

The imprint on Atlanta’s landscape was undeniable. And while the Olympics were not alone responsible for the growth spurt in the metro area, they accelerated it, Newman said.

In fact, the city seemed impervious to the hangover effects felt

by other Olympic hosts, he said.

It wasn’t until a recession arrived

a dozen years later that things slowed.

“It’s hard to see a silver lining in what the country’s been through, but for Atlanta, it gave us a little bit of a period to catch our breath and absorb some of the rapid growth that had gone on before and after the Olympics,” he said.

Olympic camaraderie

There were downsides to living in a host city. Construction drove up costs for materials and labor, causing some communities to hold off projects. The Games diverted people – and dollars – from staples of summer entertainment, like the Six Flags amusement park and Braves games.

People worked from home to avoid traffic – or left town completely.

Dick Yarbrough, who was the managing director of communications with Atlanta’s Olympic committee, has become an outspoken critic of how the city handled its moment in the spotlight.

Now a newspaper columnist, he has criticized local leaders for trying to “squeeze the Olympic planners for every dollar they could,” among other things.

“Atlanta blew it,” he said in a recent interview, adding that the intent of the Games often were lost.

“The Olympics are designed to bring people around the world together to compete in peaceful competition,” he said. “Rarely does anybody understand that. It’s always dollar signs.”

Yarbrough cites good that came from the Games, including infrastructure improvements and an army of volunteers who introduced visitors to Southern hospitality.

There’s also the huge, ongoing economic impact. Planners at one point estimated a windfall as great as $5.1 billion over a six-year period, though no follow-up study was ever done.

And, for those who endured the traffic and chaos for three weeks in the summer of 1996, the Olympics created unforgettable memories.

“For those who stayed, it was exciting. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” said State Rep. Michele Henson, D-Stone Mountain. “There was such a camaraderie among people.”

Jill Nolin covers the Georgia Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach her at jnolin@cnhi.com.