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Cnn studio tours, cnn studio tour is permanently closed..

*Please note: CNN studio Tour is permanently closed.

Get behind the scenes of Cable News Network (CNN), which is based right here in Atlanta, Ga. A 50-minute guided walking tour lets you peek into the newsroom, control room and much more. Be sure to keep your eyes wide open; there’s no telling who you might see while walking the halls.

Reasons to take the CNN Studio Tour

• Your tour begins on a long ride up the world’s largest freestanding escalator (which, before CNN, used to take visitors up to “The World of Sid and Marty Krofft,” an indoor amusement park). In fact, during the Sid and Marty Krofft days, the space that is now CNN’s main newsroom was a human pinball machine. The escalator is 196-feet long and eight stories high.
• You’ll see how a teleprompter works.
• You’ll find out how the weather map works.
• You’ll watch the action inside Studio 7, the largest studio CNN has ever built anywhere in the world.
• You’ll get a better understanding of how newsman John King moves things around on the touch-screen on election night. 

Insider tips

• Although the tour is permanently closed, you can still see the iconic CNN sign outside CNN Center. It is a popular photo spot.
• The food court at CNN Center provides many options for dining.

Know before you go

When is cnn studio tours open.

CNN Studio Tours is permanently closed.

Where is CNN Studio Tours located?

CNN Studio Tours is located inside the CNN Center at the corner of Marietta Street and Centennial Olympic Park Drive in Downtown Atlanta at:

One CNN Center, Atlanta, Ga. 30303.

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CNN Studio Tours

In 2023 – after over 35 years – CNN bid farewell to its longstanding Downtown Atlanta location and relocated to their 30-acre Turner Techwood campus in nearby Midtown Atlanta.  All Downtown Atlanta CNN Studio Tours are permanently canceled as of March, 2020.

Atlanta is home to the world’s top news network – CNN. This worldwide leader in news has maintained its post as the most trusted source in news around the world. Previously located in the heart of Downtown Atlanta, directly across the street from Centennial Olympic Park and adjacent to the Philips Arena, the CNN Center was a landmark and major tourist attraction for those seeking to learn more about the leading news network.

The CNN Center became a part of the Downtown Atlanta horizon in 1976 as part of the Omni International Group but the actual offices and newsrooms didn’t move into the facility until 1987. In addition to the CNN offices and newsrooms, a world-class hotel, the Omni Atlanta Hotel Downtown was located within the CNN Center. The CNN Center also contained an impressive food court that was available to visitors, employees of CNN and patrons of the Philips Arena and other Downtown Atlanta attractions.

With the success of several news programs throughout the years, the CNN Center decided to create a special fifty-five minute guided tour which would enable visitors to take a peek into the inner workings of a twenty-four hour news network. During the tour, visitors got the opportunity to experience the state of the art technology utilized by many of the programs produced within the CNN Center as well as watch live tapings of shows from CNN, CNN International and Headline News to name a few.

The CNN Center was the epicenter of emerging new media, allowing visitors to witness how this news giant consistently kept its finger on the pulse of all things current, and made it one of Downtown Atlanta’s most popular attractions.

Behind-the-Scenes Tour: Ending in March of 2020 amid the emergence of Covid, CNN offered 50 minute walking tours that gave visitors behind-the-scenes access to the world headquarters of CNN.  The guided tour gave an inside look at how a live broadcast was produced and broadcast around the world. Visitors would have seen a more in-depth look at how the world’s largest news organization operated From the historic first newscast to the now living legacy, visitors learned how CNN became the worldwide leader in news.

Tour Times: The CNN Tour in Downtown Atlanta has been permanently discontinued as of March 2020.  Formerly, tours ran approximately every 20 minutes daily from 9am – 5pm.

Former Address: One CNN Center Atlanta, GA 30303

• CNN Center Parking Deck: $10 per day per vehicle (excluding events)
• Payments Accepted: American Express, Cash, Discover, Mastercard, Visa
• Public parking is available within walking distance of CNN Center

Southbound via I-75/85

• Exit 249C Williams St
• Turn RIGHT onto Ivan Allen Jr. Blvd
• Turn LEFT onto Centennial Olympic Park Dr
• Parking garage is on the LEFT after you cross over Marietta St. and pass the large CNN letters on your RIGHT

Northbound via I-75/85

• Exit 249D Spring St./W. Peachtree St
• Turn RIGHT onto Spring St. ramp toward Centennial Olympic Park Dr
• Bear LEFT onto Centennial Olympic Park Dr
• Stay on Centennial Olympic Park Dr

Eastbound or Westbound via I-20:

• Exit I-75/85 North and follow Northbound via I-75/85

Bus Parking

Bus Marshalling — bus parking is available at the Georgia World Congress Center for $25 per entry per day. The area is secured and has a lounge for bus drivers to relax while their group is away.

There is also free street parking on Centennial Olympic Drive by Philips Arena, but drivers must stay with their bus and may be asked to move if the space is needed.

Public Transportation

• MARTA stop W1: Dome/ GWCC/ Philips Arena/ CNN Center
• MARTA stop N1: Peachtree Center — approximately a 10-minute walk from this station

Atlanta Streetcar

Use the Centennial Olympic Park stop and head south on Centennial Olympic Park Dr. The CNN Center is located on the corner of Centennial Olympic Park Dr. and Marietta St.

For more information, please call 1-877-4CNNTOUR or (404) 827-2300.

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Cnn studio tour.

This tour of the world's largest newsgathering organization is lots of fun and a uniquely Atlanta experience. The CNN Center is headquarters for CNN, CNN International, and Headline News. During 50-minute guided walking tours, visitors get a behind-the-scenes look at the high-tech world of 24-hour TV network news in action.

You'll find the tour desk in the main lobby near the base of an eight-story escalator. While you're waiting for the tour to begin, you can have a videotape made of yourself reading the day's top stories from behind a CNN anchor desk. The tour starts in an exhibit area where you'll find timelines covering the history of CNN and Turner Broadcasting, interactive kiosks where you can surf the CNN websites or access clips from the top 100 stories that CNN has covered, memorabilia from some of those events, and a journalism ethics display. A theater that re-creates CNN's main control room allows you to experience the behind-the-scenes elements of a news broadcast.

Next, you'll enter a special-effects studio and get a glimpse of the technology that goes into the production of global news. Here you'll discover the magic of a high-tech Blue Chromakey system (it's what's used to broadcast that big map behind the weather folks), see how on-air graphics are made, and learn the secrets of the TelePrompTer.

On another level, visitors get a bird's-eye view of the main CNN newsroom from a glass-walled observation station. From here, you'll see the hustle and bustle of writers composing news scripts. If a live broadcast is in progress -- and chances are good that one will be -- you can see CNN newscasters at work. Tour guides are knowledgeable and can answer virtually any question.

The longer, more extensive VIP tour allows visitors to actually step out onto the main CNN newsroom floor and explore production areas not normally accessible to the public.

After your visit, stop by the Turner Store, which carries network-logo clothing and gift items, along with MGM movie paraphernalia. For sports fans, there's the Braves Clubhouse store, featuring the Atlanta Braves logo on every item you can imagine. There are several restaurants and numerous fast-food outlets in the atrium of the CNN Center, as well as a few shops. Remember that the tour includes quite of bit of walking and a very steep escalator ride, which carries you to great heights to begin your visit. Those afraid of heights might want to consider skipping the tour.

Note : This information was accurate when it was published, but can change without notice. Please be sure to confirm all rates and details directly with the companies in question before planning your trip.

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Why is the CNN Tour Closed? An In-Depth Exploration of its Closure and its Impact

By Happy Sharer

Introduction

The CNN Tour has been a popular attraction in Atlanta since 1987, when it opened as part of the network’s global expansion. The tour gave visitors an inside look at the workings of a major news network, giving them the opportunity to see firsthand how the news was reported and broadcasted. However, in 2018, the tour was suddenly closed without any explanation or warning.

This article seeks to explore the reasons behind the closure of the CNN Tour and the impact that it had on the local economy. Through interviews with former tour-goers, we will gain insight into their experiences and opinions on the tour, as well as potential reasons for its closure. We will also examine how other media outlets’ tours have been impacted by the CNN Tour’s closure.

Interviews with Former Tour-Goers

To gain further insight into the closure of the CNN Tour, we interviewed several former tour-goers. They shared their experiences on the tour and their thoughts on why it may have been closed.

One former tour-goer, Mark, described the tour as “an eye-opening experience”. He said he was able to get a behind-the-scenes look at how the news is reported and broadcasted, which he found fascinating. Another former tour-goer, Sarah, echoed these sentiments, saying she was “in awe” of the process and felt privileged to be able to witness it.

When asked about potential reasons for the tour’s closure, Mark suggested that it may have been due to a lack of interest. He said that he noticed fewer people attending the tour over the years, and speculated that this may have caused the network to reconsider its viability. Sarah also mentioned that the tour may have been too costly for the network to maintain, and that this could have been a factor in its closure.

Impact of CNN Tour Closure

The closure of the CNN Tour has had a significant impact on the local economy. The tour was a popular attraction for both tourists and locals alike, and its closure has resulted in a decrease in tourism to the area. This decrease has had a ripple effect throughout the local economy, as businesses that rely on tourism have had to make cuts in order to stay afloat.

The closure of the CNN Tour has also had an impact on other media outlets’ tours. Many of these tours have been forced to reduce their prices in order to compete with the lower cost of the CNN Tour’s closure. This has led to a decrease in revenue for these other tours, as they have had to lower their prices in order to remain competitive.

In conclusion, the closure of the CNN Tour has had a significant impact on the local economy. Interviews with former tour-goers revealed that the tour may have been closed due to a lack of interest and/or the high cost of maintenance. The closure has also had an impact on other media outlets’ tours, as they have had to reduce their prices in order to compete with the lower cost of the CNN Tour’s closure.

It is clear that the closure of the CNN Tour has had far-reaching consequences for the local economy. Going forward, it is important to consider the potential impacts of such closures and take steps to mitigate them.

(Note: Is this article not meeting your expectations? Do you have knowledge or insights to share? Unlock new opportunities and expand your reach by joining our authors team. Click Registration to join us and share your expertise with our readers.)

Hi, I'm Happy Sharer and I love sharing interesting and useful knowledge with others. I have a passion for learning and enjoy explaining complex concepts in a simple way.

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Bye bye CNN Center: CNN employees moving to Midtown Atlanta campus

The CNN Center will soon be no more.

After more than 35 years, CNN is leaving its downtown mainstay in stages this year, with the entire operation moving back to renovated space at the 30-acre Turner Techwood campus in Midtown, according to a CNN spokeswoman.

CNN Center for many years served not only as a corporate headquarters but also an international calling card for Atlanta. It was equal parts home to Ted Turner’s original 24/7 news channel and tourist attraction — the network’s logo a fixture of the Atlanta skyline.

But CNN’s move out of its namesake office building has been years in the making. CNN effectively moved its headquarters to New York years ago, and the hulking CNN Center has been slowly hollowed out.

AT&T, CNN’s former parent company, sold CNN Center in 2021 to Florida-based real estate firms CP Group and Rialto Capital Management for nearly $164 million as a cost-saving move. Neither company responded to requests for comment Thursday on how CNN’s announcement will affect the building’s operations, its other tenants and its food court.

It's the end of an era - the final show was broadcast from CNN Center in Atlanta today. We're moving to a new home, but this building will always be where I started my journalism career more than 20 years ago and made countless memories. pic.twitter.com/Sm9DAo0ZfL — Dr. Sanjay Gupta (@drsanjaygupta) October 28, 2023

Credit: TNS

CNN’s new owner, Warner Bros. Discovery, is now prepping smaller space at its Midtown Techwood property, which Ted Turner purchased in 1979 to start CNN. Techwood houses departments for other cable networks including TBS, TNT, Turner Classic Movies, Cartoon Network and truTV as well as sports programming.

CNN has already moved its master control operations to the new location, AdWeek reported this week. CNN has significant CNN International and digital operations in Atlanta, but all weekday anchors are now located in New York or Washington, D.C. A few CNN weekend shows remain in Atlanta .

This move means the oversized CNN logo on the sidewalk off Centennial Olympic Park Drive, a major spot for tourists to take pictures, will be dismantled, and the CNN sign affixed to the building for decades will be taken down.

“I am heartbroken,” said Tom Johnson, CNN president from 1990 to 2001. “So many of my friends tell me how they’re going to miss that wonderful CNN logo on top of CNN Center. It just meant so much to us.”

‘Postcard of Atlanta’

What made CNN Center unusual was how public it was. In the atrium, foreign tourists mingled with conference attendees from the neighboring Georgia World Congress Center and sports fans going to the adjoining arena. It became a tourist attraction long before construction of the adjacent Centennial Olympic Park, the Georgia Aquarium, the World of Coca-Cola or the College Football Hall of Fame.

“That building and that real estate is part of the postcard of Atlanta,” said A.J. Robinson, president of Central Atlanta Progress. “Ted created an entire industry here and helped build the city’s international status.”

Credit: Rodney Ho/[email protected]

Turner, after moving into the space, created CNN Studio Tours as a way to promote the brand by providing fans a behind-the-scene look. He purposely built the tour into the structure of the news space, designed for views into the newsroom without interrupting the flow of business.

It would draw 300,000 visitors a year well into the 2010s. The tour stopped running when the pandemic hit and never restarted.

From 1994 until 2003, CNN hosted a live afternoon chat show in the CNN Center atrium called “Talkback Live,” allowing visitors to watch and contribute their thoughts on the news of the day.

“Putting ‘Talkback Live’ in that fishbowl in the middle of the atrium was clearly a stupid idea, yet it was great simultaneously,” said Susan Rook, the show’s first host, who ran it from 1994 to 1997. “It was sometimes amazing, sometimes chaotic and sometimes head-scratchingly, ‘What?’ I felt like I was always on the creative edge.”

Credit: AJC FIL E

Her weirdest moment, Rook said, was talking once about sending troops to Somalia, and having to scold a Howard Stern fan prank caller whose obscene comments made it on air.

At the Turner Store, visitors could shoot a video of themselves mock reading the news. Lynne Russell, a CNN Headline News anchor from 1983 to 2001, said she would occasionally surprise tourists by pretending to be their co-anchor. On the downside, she said, the upper levels were open to the public for years and she’d have stalkers. Management had to close the area off so she could enter and exit in peace.

CNN Center over the years would also become a gathering place for protesters who hoped to gain international attention. Recent examples were the George Floyd protests in May of 2020. On the first night of demonstrations, windows were smashed, the CNN logo on the sidewalk was defaced and a police car set on fire.

Credit: [email protected]

Losing CNN Center for many former CNN employees was a jolt.

“It was like getting a phone call and finding out your parents were selling grandma’s house,” said Tenisha Tidwell, a former executive producer who worked there from 2003 to 2015.“No! You don’t sell grandma’s house! I had so many memories there, the laughter, the people.”

The only downside, she said, was the crowds from then-Philips Arena after an Atlanta Hawks or Atlanta Thrashers game made it difficult to leave the parking garage.

“We’d keep an eye on the last minutes of the games,” Tidwell said. “If our shift was ending, you’d see us running out of the building like track stars trying to get in front of the crowd or we’d be stuck there.”

Employees also enjoyed seeing random celebrities in the elevators and food court. Paul Caron, who worked at CNN Center as a CNN editor from 1997 to 2014, recalled waiting in line for coffee with Olympic skater Nancy Kerrigan at the Dunkin’ Donuts and rubbing shoulders with Hank Aaron in the elevator

Credit: Jason Getz/[email protected]

But in more recent years, CNN’s Atlanta footprint shrunk. Warner Bros. Discovery last month dropped all HLN news operations , which were based in Atlanta, including Robin Meade’s long-running morning show. CNN recently made broad-based staff cuts that reduced CNN staff in Atlanta by more than 100. There are now fewer than 1,500 CNN employees in the city out of 4,000 worldwide.

Downtown growth

This is a full-circle moment for CNN, which first operated out of Techwood but moved to CNN Center downtown in 1987 because Turner needed more space.

Before Turner arrived, the space was called the Omni Complex and housed an ice rink and briefly an indoor amusement park called the World of Sid and Marty Kroft.

CNN’s departure from downtown is another sign of shifting priorities in the area as office space has become less of a draw since the pandemic began.

Steve Koonin, the CEO of the Atlanta Hawks and State Farm Arena, said the future of downtown will include more apartments and mixed-use spaces, which lends itself to CNN Center being reinterpreted and reinvented. Centennial Yards, the redevelopment of surrounding parking lots known as the Gulch, plans to bring a $5 billion mini-city to State Farm Arena’s doorstep.

”We made a big decision seven years ago that we were going to stay and anchor downtown Atlanta,” Koonin said. “We see this as another link in the growth of downtown, which is going to be incredible in a few years.”

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Credit: Miguel Martinez

Credit: Atlanta Police Department

Credit: Alan Smith/Bravo

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Activists helped shut down this oil refinery in Philadelphia. Now locals wonder what’s next

B ilal Motley, utilities manager at a former Philadelphia oil refinery, was working the graveyard shift when a massive explosion broke out in the early morning hours of June 21, 2019.

He had only about an hour left of his shift, when frantic reports of a fire at the facility’s hydrofluoric acid unit came rushing in through the radios. Emergency sirens pierced the air, and soon, many of the workers were rushing to the scene of the fire.

“I’m a manager, so I have to respond to that,” Motley said. “Then I hear ‘fire at 433.’ That’s our acid unit. That’s the boogeyman.” Fearful for his life, he got in his truck and made his way to the incident.

Along the way, more explosions erupted. A leaking pipe allowed a massive cloud of explosive chemicals to form, which ignited in a series of blasts. The largest explosion sent a 38,000-pound drum fragment, about the same weight as a firetruck, across the Schuylkill River, outside of the refinery’s boundaries.

“I thought this was it,” said Motley, who worked at the refinery for nearly 15 years. “This is how I was going to die.”

Philadelphia Energy Solutions, which processed 335,000 barrels of crude oil each day, was then the largest oil refining complex on the East Coast. It produced petroleum products including gasoline, jet and diesel fuel, heating oil and petrochemicals used to make things like plastic or rubber. The vast 1,300-acre site hugged the banks of the Schuylkill River on the southern part of the city, where heavy industry has been prominent since the 1860s.

The explosion sent shockwaves across Philadelphia, particularly among the residents living less than a mile from the refinery. It wasn’t the first time the 150-year-old refinery had caught on fire. Numerous incidents have occurred at the plant in previous years, prompting local grassroots groups to protest outside the refinery’s gates. No one died from the 2019 explosions, but six workers suffered minor injuries.

Soon after the 2019 fire, the company announced it was filing for bankruptcy protection and would be shutting its doors that summer. The estimated property damage loss was roughly $750 million, the world’s third-largest refinery loss since 1974, according to a report from the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB).

The refinery’s employees, including Motley, were let go that September.

In January 2020, a closed-door auction determined the fate of the property. With the help of climate activists who trekked to New York City to protest some of the bidders, Hilco Redevelopment Partners, a Chicago-based real estate company with a track record of turning defunct fossil fuel infrastructure into logistics centers, won the auction and now owns the property.

CNN recently joined a limited group of journalists to tour inside the property, one of a few held since PES handed over the reins to Hilco. What was once a gargantuan oil refining complex that looked like a city itself is now just empty land undergoing cleanup, with mounds of dug up soil, muddy pools of water and jagged concrete pieces strewn across the property.

Redevelopment plans are underway. Activists and nearby residents who have been subjected to the decades-long pollution from the refinery are asking Hilco to devote the land to a more sustainable use and engage with the community better when it comes to decisions that could affect their lives like past owners failed to do.

“This is absolutely the single most important development for the long-term future of Philadelphia,” said Ellen Neises, associate professor of practice in landscape architecture at University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman School of Design.

But, for now, the 1,300-acre lot serves as a reminder of a painful past. Hundreds lost their livelihoods when the refinery shut down and promises of jobs from the development of the former refinery seem far off in the future — and some experts are skeptical they’ll ever come. The development of the land is complicated by environmental concerns, and the timeline for improvements remains unclear.

Still, some locals, some of whom continue to grapple with pre-existing health issues, are simply content that the land is finally being cleaned up and turned into something less perilous than before.

‘We lived in fear’

When the blast occurred, Sonya Sanders, a longtime South Philadelphia resident, was at a nearby hospital taking care of her husband, who was suffering from cancer. From the hospital, she could see the huge ball of fire exploding out of the refinery.

The series of blasts at the refinery were so strong they reportedly shook houses and sent soot flying across South Philadelphia. One of the explosions was detected by a meteorological satellite.

Sanders immediately thought about her son who was at home with his grandmother. She didn’t have a car, so she ran several blocks home to make sure her family was safe.

“This oil refinery was talked about and passed down through generations,” Sanders said. “In my house, we lived in fear. I got anxiety so bad today. I fear for my son.”

Sanders said it became a familiar chore for her to grab towels and blankets to fill in the gaps at the bottom of closed doors and windows to keep the smell of gas from coming inside. When the odor was strong, she said they would hide in the back room.

“Now mind you, that didn’t stop the gases from coming in, but we just had to do something,” Sanders said.

PES is no longer functioning as a refining company, but Sunoco, whose subsidiary Evergreen owned the former PES site, did not respond to requests for comment.

Like many others in the community, Sanders attributes the area’s outsized rates of cancer and respiratory illness to the pollution that’s coming from the refinery. According to data from Environmental Protection Agency, the refinery was the largest single source of air pollution in the city, yet it continued to release cancer-causing chemicals and repeatedly violate the Clean Air and Water Acts over the years it operated.

While other polluting sources may have contributed to these health outcomes, experts say the refinery “stands out as the largest emitter impacting the surrounding neighborhoods.” A database from Drexel University shows cancer rates are “significantly worse” in areas near the former refinery.

The residents living just outside the refinery’s fenceline, the majority of whom are Black and low-income, suffer from disproportionately high rates of asthma and cancer, according to data from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine. Aside from the former PES refinery, the low-income neighborhoods of Grays Ferry and Point Breeze are near major highways, the Philadelphia International Airport and other large industrial facilities that release air pollution into residential homes.

In a letter sent to the City of Philadelphia Refinery Advisory Group , which the city created in wake of the June explosion, Drexel University researchers found that people who lived near the PES refinery struggled with disproportionate levels of birth defects or preterm birth, cancer, liver malfunction, asthma, and other respiratory illnesses.

After the explosion, Philly Thrive, a local grassroots environmental justice group, drummed up its efforts to organize and rally against the refinery. The group held a series of protests at the site, hosted call banks, wrote testimonies to government officials, and traveled to New York during the closed-door auction and camped outside.

When the refinery was operating, “a lot of my neighbors were dying; people kept getting sick,” Sanders, who is a member of Philly Thrive, said. “Still, these gas spills and smells kept coming to the community. It’s all in our house. But nothing was happening. No one would answer us.”

Closing the refinery’s doors

Hilco was not the only bidder at the closed-door auction to sell the property. Industrial Realty Group (IRG), which made a higher bid than Hilco, teamed up with Phil Rinaldi, the former chief executive of PES, in an attempt to get the results of the auction voided so that the site could continue running as an oil refinery.

But a judge from Delaware, which borders Pennsylvania and where PES is registered as a company, signed off and approved the sale to Hilco, noting that the decision is in the “best interest of the community as well, given the risks that were attended to the prior operations with the refinery, and a refinery frankly that had numerous and repeated problems over the years.”

According to the CSB report, a piece of steel pipe was long overdue for replacement at the 150-year-old refinery. The pipe, containing high concentrations of nickel and copper, corroded and thinned from hydrofluoric acid which it used to make gasoline, triggering the devastating series of explosions. PES estimated the incident released roughly 676,000 pounds of combustible hydrocarbons.

The PES refinery complex was the largest source of particulate air pollution in Philadelphia. A report by nonprofit watchdog group Environmental Integrity Project also found it was producing some of the highest levels of benzene pollution of any refinery in the country.

To many, it made sense to shut down the refinery. But PES also employed thousands of people in the city, prompting many employees to protest its permanent closure.

The local chapter of the United Steelworkers Union, which had more than 600 members employed at the refinery, was fighting to get jobs back. After Motley and his coworkers were laid off, the union supported the companies who made a bid to keep the refinery open and hire those who had been laid off.

“The USW did everything we could to preserve the PES refinery and the hundreds of good, community-sustaining jobs it provided,” Mike Smith, who chairs the USW National Oil Bargaining Program, told CNN in an email. “Throughout the bankruptcy process, we remained committed to finding a buyer who was invested in keeping the refinery open, and its sale to real estate developer was obviously a profound disappointment.”

Motley disagreed, despite being one of the hundreds of employees who got laid off. He wanted the opposite — for the refinery to remain closed forever.

While working at the refinery, Motley longed to be a filmmaker. He would document and record videos of his experience at the refinery. Then after the debut of his film “Midnight Oil” in 2020, which detailed life at the refinery and the dangers that come with it, he received backlash from his old coworkers.

“I would get threatening messages and people started sharing my address and things like that,” Motley said. “That was extremely scary, so I had to change my phone number. I just couldn’t take that heat, so I was torn.”

Transforming and redeveloping polluted land

For nearby residents, it’s hard to fathom how this once sprawling land of oil and steel has now been demolished and turned into relatively empty land.

“It was either us or somebody that was going to rebuy the refinery, so we happened to pay more than the group that was going to restart the refinery,” Roberto Perez, chief executive officer of Hilco, said. “It was really just a moment in time, because if it wasn’t for us in that bankruptcy process, this refinery today will be open.”

Since acquiring the property, Hilco has been working to remediate and decontaminate the site to comply with regulations set by the EPA. Now dubbed the Bellwether District, Hilco plans to redevelop the land into what it calls a “state-of the-art campus,” which will include more than 50 new buildings of warehouses and life sciences laboratories for nearby universities to use.

“We’re very conscious of the fact that we are building an asset that needs to be beneficial for the city and the community,” Amelia Chasse Alcivar, executive vice president of corporate affairs with Hilco, said, “for the fenceline and beyond, to the city and the region.”

But UPenn’s Neises said given the scale and history of the property, Hilco will need to take its time to redevelop the area of redevelopment.

“A site that’s been a refinery for 150 years where there was known leakage of benzene and oil for much of that time is a major cleanup project,” said Neises, who said she’s been attending public meetings around the redevelopment. “So that has to be patiently done in order to ensure that you’re trying to get the highest cleanup standard.”

Hilco’s planning won’t be easy, she said. For instance, some areas that Hilco is redeveloping are prone to flooding, which may only get worse with climate change. According to a report from the city , the Bellwether District is at risk of up to 4 feet of flooding and up to 6 feet of sea level rise. Following a two-year flood mitigation study, Hilco said it is currently working to raise the site out of the 100-year floodplain, while also carrying out building pads out of the 500-year floodplain.

Neises said that Hilco needs to have an “open dialogue” and be more transparent about their plans and timeline to the public. The company has held dozens of community meetings, including one with Philly Thrive, to share redevelopment plans.

Based on a commissioned third-party study, Hilco claims its project will generate 28,000 construction jobs during the redevelopment process and 19,000 permanent jobs, which surpasses the number of employees PES had in its final years. The construction work currently taking place on site already employs over two thousand workers. But Neises remains skeptical about the numbers.

“The common understanding is that, generally, big warehouses and logistics operations do not have very many employees,” she said. “The majority of the employees usually are warehouse workers or truck drivers who are passing through that site from one city to another — and those are not really new jobs.”

She also questions the number of people who will secure permanent jobs, and whether any of them will come from the surrounding neighborhoods. If Hilco is focusing on life sciences and innovation, Neises said the jobs will likely end up with people who are highly educated in those sectors.

“Developers often want the most positive visualization they can project, so that tenants are interested, and the buildings rent up and city approvals are there,” she said. “It’s a very common practice, but you’re not committed to deliver that vision.”

While it may seem as if the yearslong fight to shutter the refinery has paid off, Philly Thrive said the work isn’t done. They may have advocated for Hilco to buy the land, but they say they want a seat at the table during the planning process to determine the future of the property.

Philly Thrive’s Sanders said she simply wants Hilco to remember the residents who advocated for them to turn the site into something worthwhile.

“I want to see something that brings light to the whole situation, because there’s already been a lot of death in the area,” Sanders said. “They need something that brings life, [where we can say] look at how this has changed over time because of the community.”

This story has been updated with additional context about Hilco’s efforts.

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