Listen to Sandra Parrish's reports: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

(WSB Radio) The fight is on to save one of the few remaining visual reminders of the 1996 Olympics.  The Stone Mountain Tennis Center, home to Olympic tennis, is set to be torn down by January when Gwinnett County will take over the site as a future park featuring the 15 outdoor tennis courts.

"It's a beautiful facility ... the outside is still as gorgeous as it was from day one," says Lee Baker, executive director of the Gwinnett Sports Council. 

He's petitioned both the Stone Mountain Memorial Association, which owns the facility, and Gwinnett County Commissioners to save the stadium and turn it into a viable economic source for the south end of the county.

"We need a survey to see the feasibility of what I'm advocating... putting a roof on it (and) attracting additional events here to this area," says Baker.

But SMMA CEO Curtis Branscome tells WSB's Sandra Parrish they've spent 11 of the last 13 years and close to $3 million trying to make a go of it, but to no avail. The facility has sat padlocked for the past two years with weeds now growing through the parking lot.

The Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, ACOG, built the $16 million stadium and its surrounding tennis courts for the Olympics.  Following the games, it turned ownership of the site over to the SMMA.

But there are only 400 parking spaces for the 7000 seat stadium which Branscome says has been a stumbling block from the beginning.

"It's of no economic value that we can determine.  So it's just best to demolish it and get it out of the way so that maybe some other active recreational use can be made of the property," he says.

Branscome says the stadium, as it is, needs about $2 million dollars in repairs, and it's not an expense Gwinnett County wants to take on.

"We are having our own financial issues, if you will.  It will require major capital dollars and again you have the whole issue of operation and it's not been successful in the past financially," says Gwinnett County Director of Community Services Phil Hoskins.

Gwinnett and the SMMA reached a deal in May in which the county will pay $1 a year for 50 years to lease the site with the agreement that the SMMA will demolish the stadium by the end of the year.

Baker is not willing to give up just yet.  He's hoping the Evermore Community Improvement District which includes business owners along Hwy 78 will step in and offer help.

"It's the gateway to the community. It would serve as the biggest stimulus that this area could use to get it up and going," he says.

What it looked like during the Olympics