Imagine a giant cylindrical ad for an energy drink, a streaming service, or a fast-food chain shooting 300 feet into the sky over downtown Atlanta. That's the pitch behind one of downtown's most visible older buildings, as the company that owns it strives to sell some of the biggest ad space in the intown skyline.
Long known for unabashed, occasionally controversial digital messaging, the 30-story Corey Tower is undergoing a rebrand as "ATL Tower," courting local and national advertisers looking to make a statement to the hundreds of thousands of Downtown Connector commuters who pass it daily. The building, a former Georgia Power steam plant, already carries a 2,000-square-foot LED billboard installed a decade ago -- back when owner and longtime ad executive Bill Corey compared the structure to Atlanta's answer to the Space Needle or the Statue of Liberty.
Under the new pitch, the entire structure -- not just the LED panel -- is available to be reskinned as advertising. "This massive structure can be adapted creatively and aesthetically to STAND OUT visibly across the downtown area," reads the Corey Companies pitch material. "The vertical surface allows your brand to display a constant message to be seen in full color 24 hours a day." Pricing for a full-tower takeover wasn't publicly available at the time.
Whatever ends up on it, the tower is guaranteed to be one of downtown's most-seen surfaces -- a 300-foot canvas facing one of the busiest stretches of interstate in the Southeast, for better or worse depending on who's buying the space.
Original reporting by Josh Green for Urbanize Atlanta, published March 2024.