CNN Center’s conversion aims to boost Atlanta creatives, nonprofits

There’s a new opportunity afoot for creative and kindhearted Atlantans hoping to literally see their name in lights soon. 

Commercial real estate titan CP Group has partnered with local arts and culture consultants ASHA Advisory to launch a program called “CTR Culture” at The Center, the ongoing remake of downtown’s former CNN Center. 

CTR Culture will aim to capitalize on the iconic and highly trafficked downtown property as a platform for boosting arts, culture, and creative community storytelling, per officials. 

As part of those efforts, a limited number of Media Placement Grants are now being offered for exposure on The Center’s new high-profile digital signage at main entryways, which project officials say will reach thousands of visitors each day. The Center is being positioned as a main activity hub for 2026 FIFA World Cup matches beginning in Atlanta next June. 

“There are three of these monumental structures being added to the facade of the building,” Neda Abghari, ASHA Advisory principal and lead curator, wrote to Urbanize Atlanta via email. “It will have a pretty great impact on not only the building but the surrounding environment.”

Chris Eachus, a CP Group founding partner, said The Center’s digital screens are the largest in the Southeast. Along with advertising opportunities, they’ll serve to host soccer watch parties, per Eachus. 

With free billboard exposure, the grant program will aim to spotlight “changemakers, creatives, and mission-driven organizations who are shaping Atlanta's cultural landscape” during a time of rising costs and shrinking resources, especially as crowds flock downtown during World Cup hoopla and conventions at neighboring Georgia World Congress Center, according to a program announcement. 

ASHA Advisory is now accepting applications here. The window to apply closes Aug. 31. 

CP Group announced plans in early 2024 to remake the 1970s landmark known for its soaring atrium into a modernized hub of dining, retail, entertainment, and content creation. Timelines for openings haven’t been specified, but the developer in March did hint that “a confidential high-end restaurant tenant” had agreed to lease 10,000 square feet. 

A new social area called “Hawks Plaza” is in the works for the building’s southernmost entry, nearest to State Farm Arena’s main entrance, according to marketing materials. Connected to that will be a remade atrium and reimagined retail corridors leading to arenas, the recently renovated Omni hotel, and downtown lynchpin GWCC. 

Overall, CP Group’s renovations call for 130,000 square feet of retail space, alongside 920,000 square feet of creative office and media production spaces, officials said last year. It’s all part of a massive portfolio the Boca Raton, Fla.-based company has amassed in Atlanta in recent years that now includes Buckhead’s 14-building Piedmont Center, where significant upgrades are planned. 

On the downtown project, CP Group is working with architecture and interior design firm TVS, general contractor Holder Construction, and marketing firm Core Twelve for branding of The Center. 

CNN departed the 1.2-million-square-foot building last year and stripped off its branding as its offices were moved to Midtown’s Techwood, ending a four-decade era of the media company being headquartered downtown.  

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