In 1993, the site of Centennial Olympic Park was a dilapidated section of downtown Atlanta with empty lots and abandoned buildings. Billy Payne, chief executive of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, envisioned transforming it into a beautiful gathering space for visitors and residents during the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games and for years afterward. In early 1995, the park's master plan was unveiled, and months later demolition of the Genuine Parts Company's Beck and Gregg building marked the start of construction. To help fund the project, the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games sold engraved bricks for pathways in the park, and nearly 500,000 commemorative bricks were sold in the most successful program of its kind. The 22-acre park became more than a legacy of the 1996 Summer Olympic Games and a catalyst for downtown revitalization, and today it anchors a thriving entertainment and hospitality district that spurs billions of dollars in economic impact while being operated and maintained as a private venue by the Georgia World Congress Center Authority without state funding.