Underground Atlanta - Today

Today

Underground Atlanta is once again home to retail stores, restaurants, and several nightclubs and bars in Kenny's Alley. However, it has struggled to attract consistent and diverse patronage. In 1999, the city hired O'Leary Partners to manage the district.

In 2004, in an effort to keep Underground Atlanta from closing a second time, the city passed an ordinance allowing bars in the complex to remain open and serve drinks until 4:00 -- a last call 90 minutes later than the rest of the city had recently been restricted to. Patrons were also permitted to take their open alcoholic drinks from bar to bar. By 2005, annual visitation in Underground averaged around 6 million people.

Today, Underground Atlanta is primarily a destination for tourists, and some venues have sought, in recent years, to attract a more diverse ethnic and cultural clientele. Recently, there was public talk of the Georgia Lottery Commission opening and operating a video lottery terminal casino within the property to attract traffic and diversity, and also to bring the once lucrative but now dwindling convention trade back into the core of downtown Atlanta. The mall's operators proposed a $450 million makeover that would have included thousands of video lottery terminals and a high-rise hotel. The plan, intended to bring several million dollars to the city tax base and generate revenue for statewide education programs, was shelved in early 2009. Although no approval from the state legislature was required, conservative politicians in the 150th Georgia General Assembly and the governor of Georgia were opposed to it.

On April 7, 2007, after nearly 16 years in operation, The World of Coca-Cola closed its Underground Atlanta location and moved to a new, larger facility near Centennial Olympic Park.

Each New Year's Eve, there is a grand Peach Drop event that occurs in Underground Atlanta, in which a giant foam peach slowly drops from a tower during the final minute of the year. This is followed by fireworks.