CP Group JV Buys CNN Center in Atlanta

CNN Center in downtown Atlanta. Image courtesy of CP Group

One day after announcing the purchase of a downtown Miami office building, a joint venture led by CP Group with funds managed by Rialto Capital Management has acquired the 1.2 million-square-foot CNN Center in downtown Atlanta in a sale-leaseback deal with WarnerMedia.

The deal makes CP Group—an owner, operator and developer of office and mixed-use projects throughout the Southeast and Southwest formerly known as Crocker Partners—the second-largest office owner in Georgia. The acquisition is the third in a recent series of strategic partnerships between Rialto Capital and CP Group involving critical workspace in core locations.

The price and terms of the lease have not been released. When WarnerMedia put the iconic property up for sale last year, the company said it expected to stay at the site for at least five years once it was sold. Thursday’s announcement from CP Group said only that WarnerMedia will “lease back the CNN Center for a number of years.”

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Earlier this month, AT&T, which owns the WarnerMedia subsidiary, acquired the air rights and 2.3 acres of land at the site from the state of Georgia for $18.8 million, according to Bisnow, setting the stage for the CP Group acquisition of the CNN Center.

CNN Center, then known as the Omni Complex, was developed in 1976 by Cousins Properties. Located in the heart of Atlanta’s Central Business District, the CNN Center is surrounded by other city landmarks including State Farm Arena, Mercedes-Benz Arena and Centennial Olympic Park.

While not disclosing further details, Chris Eachus, CP Group partner, said in a prepared statement that the joint venture looked forward to “embracing the opportunity to strategically transform the asset and build off the city’s current momentum.”

Eachus referred to Atlanta’s forecasted economic growth as a standout among metropolitan areas. He also noted the Southeast region was continuing to attract a large number of new jobs and residents.

The area is in the midst of the ongoing development of Centennial Yards, a $5 billion mixed-use project located next to CNN Center that will include residential and office towers, restaurants and retail over 12 to 15 new city blocks.

Steady growth

The CNN Center acquisition comes one day after news broke that a joint venture of CP Group along with funds managed by Rialto Capital Management and Sabal Capital Partners had acquired One Biscayne Tower, a 1.1 million-square-foot, 38-story office tower in downtown Miami, from Dow Chemical. The purchase price was $225 million, according to The Real Deal. The transaction boosted CP Group’s holdings in downtown Miami’s office market to more than 2 million square feet, including SunTrust International Center and Citigroup Center.

In May, CP Group acquired a 1.2 million-square-foot, three-building portfolio in Atlanta from Franklin Street Properties Group. The portfolio comprised One and Two Ravinia Drive and One Overton Park.

Boca Raton, Fla.,-based CP Group, which changed its name from Crocker Partners in June, now has a portfolio spanning more than 13 million square feet. Formed in 1986, CP Group has acquired and managed more than 158 properties totaling 50 million square feet and representing $6 billion invested. In addition to being Atlanta’s second-largest office landlord, the firm is the largest office owner in Florida.

Based in Miami, Rialto is a real estate investment management, asset management and operating company that has participated in the investment of billions of dollars of equity in real estate assets since its founding in 2007. The CNN Center is the firm’s sixth acquisition to date in 2021 of mission-critical workspaces and mixed-use properties totaling more than 3.2 million square feet of rentable area across the U.S.