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Goodbye Georgia Dome: Final round of demolition now complete

By Wendy Corona, WSB-TV and Steve Gehlbach, WSB-TV
By Wendy Corona, WSB-TV and Steve Gehlbach, WSB-TV

ATLANTA — All of the Georgia Dome is now finally in pieces.

At 1 a.m. Wednesday, Channel 2 Action News was there as crews imploded what didn't come down in last month's blast.

“It's kind of bittersweet. Lots of memories,” resident Larry Long said. “I saw this building get built. Saw it get blown up. First building I've ever seen get built and witness the implosion in my lifetime.”

Most of the Dome came down on Nov. 20, with the help of 5,000 pounds of explosives, but not all of it fell.

This time around, demolition crews used about 300 pounds of explosives to take down the east wall and the northwest corner of the Dome.

Matthew Bana, 14, made it to both implosions.

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He said this collapse was different than the previous Dome implosion he’s witnessed.

“Where we were standing it was a lot more shakier than the first one like you could feel it through the ground,” Bana said.

The MARTA shut down part of the line that goes through that area around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, but after a reinspection underground, MARTA services were reopened shortly after the implosion and operated as usual Wednesday.

“I've probably gone to 100 events at the Ga Dome in my lifetime,” Long said.

But now it’s time to shift to the make new memories at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium next door. The Dome debris school be cleared by February.

What's next for the Dome site?

Once the cleanup from the Georgia Dome is complete, construction crews will begin a major overhaul of the space, which will add 100,000 more square feet to the Georgia World Congress Center convention area.

The area in which the Georgia Dome sat will become the Home Depot Backyard, a green space.

[RAW VIDEO: Georgia Dome demolition from 6 different views]

Frank Poe, executive director of the Georgia World Congress Center, said the center is planning to add a 1,010-room hotel that will fit between Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the Georgia World Congress Center.

"Our goal is to see this hotel under construction in January or February 2019, probably post-Super Bowl," Poe told Channel 2's Craig Lucie in an exclusive interview.

Poe said the plan for the space will attract even more businesses to Atlanta.

Cox Media Group

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