10K-square-foot mystery restaurant planned for CNN Center reboot

A “confidential, high-end” restaurant tenant will be taking over 10,000 square feet of retail space at the Center, the mixed-use property in the former CNN Center building, owners CP Group announced Tuesday.

The announcement did not include further details about the mystery restaurant, but representatives for the Florida-based CP Group said last April that Healey Weatherholtz Properties would help lease retail space at the Center. CP Group, which co-owns the property with Rialto Capital Management, also released new exterior renderings and a fly-through video of the revamped atrium, the cavernous space that sets the building apart.

The promotional video shows the names of a variety of restaurants in the updated space, though those are likely placeholders. CP Group representatives have not responded to questions about the restaurants planned for the Center.

Exterior renderings of the Center show a large-scale “digital interactive sculpture” in the spot along Centennial Olympic Park Drive that previously was home to the 5,000-pound aluminum CNN logo. (Courtesy of CP Group)

The most prominent restaurant currently in the building is McCormick & Schmick’s, an upscale steak and seafood chain owned by Houston-based Landry’s Inc. The chain once operated 85 restaurants across the U.S. and Canada before it was acquired by Landry’s in 2012, Seafood Source reported at the time. McCormick & Schmick’s now has 20 locations in the U.S., according to their website.

Stakeholders in the building hope the Center will become “downtown’s version of the Battery, Ponce City Market and Avalon,” a representative for the building’s office space leasing firm CBRE told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution last year.

Healey Weatherholtz, the project’s Atlanta-based retail leasing firm, has worked on several notable redevelopment projects in the metro area, including Summerhill, Shops Around Lenox and Ashford Lane. Some of the restaurant tenants at their projects include Southern National, Big Softie, Flower Child and Hawkers.

Tuesday’s announcement also included news about partnerships with the Savannah College of Art and Design as well as local art and cultural consultants Neda Abghari and Bem Joiner. Abghari is known for founding the Creative Project, an affordable housing initiative for artists living in Atlanta, and as the principal art adviser for the Midtown Alliance’s Heart of the Arts program. Joiner is the founder of Atlanta Influences Everything.

Exterior renderings of the Center show a large-scale “digital interactive sculpture” in the spot along Centennial Olympic Park Drive that previously was home to the 5,000-pound aluminum CNN logo.

CNN relocated to the Techwood campus in Midtown.

The new sculpture features stacked, three-dimensional letters spelling ATL. In the fly-through video, the faces of the letters appear to feature dynamic screens like a digital billboard. Other projects underway include a variety of custom murals and additional art installations in the atrium.

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Credit: CP Group

This is an early concept rendering of "The Center," the rebranded office and retail complex formerly known as CNN Center in downtown Atlanta. The change was announced in April 2024 by the building’s owner CP Group said in a news release.