Nashville Firm Buys One of Atlanta's Most-Viewed Properties: A Billboard

A Nashville sign company bought the outdoor billboard that sits across from Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta and has digitalized it to improve property value.

Blackbird Media, backed by Pasadena, California-based Tantara Capital Partners, bought the billboard from Atlanta-based Broadworks Advertising Co. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

The Atlanta sign, sometimes known as the “CNN sign” because of ads featuring the news network, has been attached to a building along Centennial Olympic Boulevard for years, giving the owner a steady revenue stream of rent the whole time. That continues but with a new twist – Blackbird Media has converted the static billboard into a 30- by 100-foot digital display.

It will be flashing advertisements from a list to companies including Disney, Amazon, Chanel and Carnival Cruise lines, according to Chenault Sanders, the media company’s chief executive officer. Nearby Atlanta Botanical Gardens and the College Football Hall of Fame also plan to display ads on the sign.

The new digital sign is similar to the highly-visible “The Nashville Sign” Blackbird Media owns at the split of Broadway and West End Avenues coming out of downtown Nashville. Atlanta's sign is the first for Blackbird Media outside Nashville, where it has several signs in addition to its most visible one.

The company has 140 billboard "faces" in Tennessee, a number that can include signs with displays on either side. The Atlanta billboard was too good of an opportunity to pass up, the company's top exec said.

“Permitting a sign for a location such as this is very rare,” Sanders said. “That’s one reason why we are excited with this acquisition.”

Getting the proper permits can be a big challenge. There’s been an ongoing battle over permitting to allow two large digital billboards on a Midtown Atlanta building overlooking Interstate 85. Battles have raged in Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and many other parts of the country.

Sanders said his company does a lot consulting with real estate owners and developers around the country to determine whether a sign can be permitted.

When the company strikes a deal for themselves, Sanders said “we are more interested in partnering with a real estate owners to help improve their property value” rather than create conditions that prevent a property from being sold.