I’ve covered mansions worth $200 million, ranches spanning millions of acres, beachfront compounds with infinity pools and private cinemas. But nothing I’ve ever come across in this work quite prepares you for the Ted Turner house in Atlanta.
It is 800 square feet. It sits at the top of what was once CNN Center via a narrow spiral staircase. It has a small kitchen, a bright pink bedroom wall, a wood-burning fireplace, and a fish tank built into the dividing wall. The carpet is green-blue. The bathroom has an ivory telephone mounted next to the toilet.
And for years, this is where one of the most powerful media moguls in American history chose to sleep.
Not because he had to. Ted Turner owned nearly 2 million acres of land across the American West, multiple plantations in the South, a Florida estate of 25,000 acres, and properties in Argentina. He was once the largest private landowner in the entire United States.
He chose the 800-square-foot rooftop apartment because it put him 30 steps from the newsroom he was building.
My name is Ramon Weber. Let me take you inside the most fascinating celebrity home address I’ve ever researched.
Quick Snapshot of Ted Turner Property Atlanta
Who Was Ted Turner?
Ted Turner was born in Cincinnati but grew up in Savannah, Georgia — a connection to the South that never left him. His father Robert Turner ran an outdoor advertising business, and Ted took it over after his father’s death in 1963.
He turned it into a television empire, buying a small UHF station in Atlanta and eventually building CNN — the world’s first 24-hour cable news network, launched on June 1, 1980.
He won the America’s Cup in 1977. He owned the Atlanta Braves. He launched TNT and TBS. He donated $1 billion to the United Nations. He became the largest private landowner in the United States and raised 45,000 bison across his properties.
And in his Atlanta years, he slept in an 800-square-foot apartment above his newsroom.
Ted Turner died on May 6, 2026, at the age of 87 after a period of declining health from Lewy body dementia.
| Detail | Info |
| Full Name | Robert Edward Turner III |
| Date of Birth | November 19, 1938 |
| Date of Death | May 6, 2026 |
| Age at Death | 87 |
| Birthplace | Cincinnati, Ohio |
| Raised In | Savannah, Georgia |
| Education | Brown University (expelled; later honorary degrees) |
| Companies | Turner Broadcasting System, CNN, TNT, TBS, Ted’s Montana Grill |
| CNN Founded | June 1, 1980 |
| Net Worth at Death | ~$2.2 billion |
| Land Owned | ~2 million acres (4th largest private landowner in US at time of death) |
| Wives | Judy Nye (1960–64), Jane Smith Turner (1965–88), Jane Fonda (1991–2001) |
| Children | 5 |
| Famous For | CNN founder, America’s Cup winner (1977), environmentalist, largest private bison herd in the world |
| Died | May 6, 2026, of Lewy body dementi |
Ted Turner House Atlanta: The CNN Center Rooftop Apartment
This is the property that defines Ted Turner’s Atlanta story. Not a mansion. Not a penthouse in Buckhead. A rooftop loft above the newsroom he built.
Location: Above the Empire
The Ted Turner house Atlanta sits at the top of the original CNN Center building in downtown Atlanta — now being redeveloped as “The CTR” by real estate firm CP Group.
- Building: Former CNN Center, now The CTR
- Address: 1 CNN Center, Atlanta, GA 30303
- Neighborhood: Downtown Atlanta, adjacent to Centennial Olympic Park
- Elevation: 14th floor, roof level
- Access: Elevator to 14th floor → walk through former marketing department hallway → unmarked door → narrow spiral staircase up
- Distance from newsroom: Approximately 30 steps
The location was entirely deliberate. Turner wrote in his autobiography “Call Me Ted” that he built the apartment purely for efficiency. While millions of Atlanta commuters sat in traffic, his commute was a flight of stairs. Before the apartment, he had been sleeping on a Murphy bed in his office.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, former CNN executive Steve Korn described it simply: “It was pure Ted. It was convenient and it was modest.”
Ted Turner House: A Visual Tour
Inside the Ted Turner Home: Full Tour
Let me take you up that spiral staircase. Me imagining this for the first time — I kept thinking about the contrast. A man worth billions of dollars. An 800-square-foot apartment. A fish tank in the wall.
Getting There: The Spiral Staircase
You don’t walk in through a grand entrance. There is no lobby. No doorman. No polished marble floor.
You take the elevator to the 14th floor of CNN Center. You walk through what used to be a marketing department hallway. You find an unassuming door that looks like it leads to a utility space. You open it.
Behind it is a narrow spiral staircase — the same one Jane Fonda described in her 2005 autobiography “My Life So Far” as the “take-your-life-in-your-hands spiral staircase.” Green-blue carpet lines each step. You climb.
At the top, you arrive at one of the most unusual residential spaces I’ve ever encountered in all my years covering celebrity homes.
The Living Area: A Wall of Fish and a Fireplace
The apartment is divided into two halves by a single wall. That wall contains two things: a saltwater fish tank and a wood-burning fireplace.
I love this detail more than almost anything else about this property. Think about it — a man who controlled one of the most powerful media organizations on earth came home every night to a fish tank and a fireplace as the centerpiece of his living space.
The living area has floor-to-ceiling windows. The view is a 360-degree panorama of the Atlanta skyline — Bank of America Plaza, Westin Peachtree Plaza, and Truist Plaza all visible a short distance away. Downtown Atlanta spread out in every direction.
Two state-of-the-art televisions — state-of-the-art for the 1990s — sat in the living space. Both facing the windows. Both tuned, presumably, to CNN.
A small television. A fish tank. A fireplace. Logs stacked beside it. Old Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper scraps still visible in the hearth decades later when the AJC photographed it in 2026.
The Kitchen: Minimal and Functional
The kitchen sits at the back left corner of the living space. Small. Fully functional. Nothing more than what was needed.
The kitchen appliances hadn’t functioned in years by the time CP Group photographed the space in 2026. But they were still there — a time capsule of early 1990s Atlanta domestic life sitting above one of the most important news operations in the world.
Me standing in front of those photographs, I kept thinking about what breakfast looked like up here. CNN anchor voices filtering up from below. The Atlanta skyline getting brighter with every passing hour.
The Bedroom: Pink Walls and a Walk-In Closet
Here’s the detail that genuinely surprised me: the bedroom wall is painted bright pink.
Not beige. Not white. Not navy. Bright pink.
The same color carries into the bathroom. It’s unmistakably a personal choice — not a designer’s recommendation. And it makes the space feel genuinely inhabited in a way that most celebrity properties don’t.
An expansive walk-in closet with built-in filing cabinets lines one wall. Turner needed accessible files within reach of his bedroom — practical, efficient, and completely in character for a man who described his entire living situation as a business efficiency decision.
Former employees remember watching Turner descend from the apartment at various points throughout the day — sometimes in a bathrobe, sometimes in a suit and tie — to collect the morning newspaper or check sports scores.
The Bathroom: A Phone by the Toilet
The bathroom has an oversized vanity. A tub and separate shower with a window view. And mounted on the wall next to the toilet: an ivory-colored telephone.
I sat with that detail for a moment. Ted Turner had a phone mounted next to his toilet so he could take calls without interrupting his workflow.
That’s not eccentricity. That’s a man who genuinely never stopped working.
The View: 360 Degrees of Atlanta
The floor-to-ceiling windows throughout the apartment provide a 360-degree view of downtown Atlanta from the 14th-floor rooftop position. The city stretches out in every direction.
Former CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin — who snuck up to the apartment in 2012 out of pure journalistic curiosity, setting off silent alarms and getting confronted by security guards in the process — described standing at those windows and being overcome by the symbolism: “Just imagine this newsman, this pioneer of ‘Chicken Noodle News,’ wandering around this space. The king of Atlanta at the top of this building with this killer view of the city.”
Ted Turner’s Second Atlanta Address: Above Ted’s Montana Grill
The rooftop CNN Center apartment wasn’t Turner’s only modest Atlanta address.
Years later, Turner maintained an apartment above the original Ted’s Montana Grill on Luckie Street — the restaurant chain he co-founded in 2002 with restaurateur George McKerrow Jr. Former employee Patrick Shanley, speaking to Atlanta News First in May 2026 after Turner’s death, recalled visiting the space.
“It struck me at the time because here’s a guy who was worth billions of dollars at the time and he ended up owning most of the western United States. And he spent most of his nights in this modest apartment above the empire that he built.”
Two Atlanta apartments. Neither more than functional. Both chosen deliberately to keep him close to whatever he was building at the time. That’s the Ted Turner Atlanta housing philosophy in full.
Where Does Ted Turner Live Now?
Ted Turner passed away on May 6, 2026, at the age of 87 after a period of declining health from Lewy body dementia. He is no longer living.
In his later years — before his health declined significantly — Turner split his time primarily between:
- His Snowcrest Ranch in Montana (his primary personal residence in later years)
- Avalon Plantation near Tallahassee, Florida (his official tax residence, in Lamont, Florida)
- His various other ranches, visited according to his conservation work
He had not maintained a permanent Atlanta residence for many years before his death.
Ted Turner’s Additional Properties
The Atlanta apartment is the most personally revealing address in the Turner story. But the broader real estate picture is where the true scale of the man becomes clear. At his death, Ted Turner was the fourth-largest private landowner in the United States, with approximately 2 million acres across 13 ranches.
| Property | Location | Acres | Key Details |
| CNN Center Rooftop Apartment | Downtown Atlanta, GA | N/A | 800 sq ft, 14th floor, preserved by CP Group |
| Ted’s Montana Grill Apartment | Luckie St, Atlanta, GA | N/A | Above his restaurant; second modest Atlanta address |
| Avalon Plantation (Florida) | Lamont, FL (near Tallahassee) | ~25,000 acres | Official tax residence; 15,000 sq ft Colonial Revival mansion (1938); former cotton plantation; wild quail hunting |
| Snowcrest Ranch (Montana) | Montana | 13,000 acres | Primary personal residence in later years |
| Flying D Ranch (Montana) | Southwest Montana | 113,600 acres | Bought 1989; built with Jane Fonda; conservation easement via The Nature Conservancy |
| Vermejo Park Ranch (New Mexico) | Northern NM / Southern CO | 560,000+ acres | Purchased 1996 from Pennzoil; largest single ranch; high-end ecotourism |
| Ladder Ranch | New Mexico | Part of NM holdings | Part of Turner’s 1.1M+ NM acres |
| Armendaris Ranch | New Mexico | Part of NM holdings | Four-bedroom hacienda-style house; available for private stays |
| Hope Plantation | South Carolina | ~5,000 acres | Bought 1978 for $15M; sold 2014 |
| St. Phillips Island | South Carolina coast | 4,600 acres | Barrier island; sold to SC state 2017 for $4.9M |
| Kinloch Plantation | North of Charleston, SC | 5,800 acres | 1920s 15-room hunting lodge; sold 2025 for $18M |
| Nonami Plantation | Albany, Georgia | 8,800 acres | Bought 2010; quail hunting; no pesticides policy |
| Georgia trout property | North Georgia | Not disclosed | Trout fishing property in north Georgia mountains |
| Argentina properties | Patagonia region | Multiple | La Primavera, Collon Cura, Tierra del Fuego fishing lodge |
| Nebraska Sandhills ranches | Nebraska | 445,000+ acres | Largest individual private landowner in Nebraska |
Let’s have a look at some of the Ted Turner additional properties details.
Ted Turner House in Lamont, Florida (Avalon Plantation)
The Ted Turner house in lamont florida — Avalon Plantation — is the official tax domicile and one of Turner’s most significant personal properties.
He bought the land near Tallahassee in 1985. At acquisition it was around 8,000 acres — a stretch financially for Turner at the time. He later expanded it to 25,000 acres. He named it Avalon after the island of Arthurian legend where Excalibur was forged.
The plantation features a 15,000-square-foot Colonial Revival mansion built in 1938. It’s a former cotton plantation that Turner converted into a wild quail hunting destination. The grounds are managed for native species, with longleaf pine restoration a central conservation goal.
Turner told Architectural Digest in 2004: “It was about 8,000 acres when I bought it, and it was a bit of a stretch for me. I acquired more land because I required more land — I wanted it. I never like to buy anything except land.”
When people search “Ted Turner house tallahassee,” this is the property they’re looking for — it’s just outside the city in Lamont, Jefferson County.
Ted Turner House Montana
Montana held a special place in Turner’s life. He entered the state in 1987 with the purchase of the 22,000-acre Bar None Ranch. Two years later, he acquired the 113,000-acre Flying D Ranch — where he and Jane Fonda later built a house together. He also owns the 13,000-acre Snowcrest Ranch, which became his primary personal retreat in later years.
Together, his Montana holdings totaled just under 127,000 acres. The Flying D Ranch carries a conservation easement through The Nature Conservancy, ensuring the land remains protected in perpetuity.
The bison herds across all his properties — numbering approximately 45,000 head at their peak, the largest private bison herd in the world — were central to Turner’s conservation philosophy. Bison grazed the Montana ranches, the New Mexico properties, and the Nebraska Sandhills, restoring native grassland ecosystems that cattle had degraded.
Ted Turner House in South Carolina
Turner’s Ted Turner house South Carolina holdings represented a significant chapter in his real estate story.
He began building his South Carolina footprint in 1978 with Hope Plantation — roughly 5,000 acres dating back to 1799. The following year he added St. Phillips Island, a 4,600-acre barrier island he kept largely undeveloped except for two homes he built there.
He later sold Hope Plantation for $15 million in 2014. St. Phillips Island — a designated National Natural Landmark — was sold to the State of South Carolina in 2017 for $4.9 million. Kinloch Plantation, a 5,800-acre hunting preserve with a 1920s 15-room lodge north of Charleston, changed hands most recently in 2025 for $18 million.
Ted Turner House Savannah, Georgia
When people search “Ted Turner house savannah ga,” they’re looking for his roots rather than a current property. Turner grew up in Savannah, Georgia — the city that shaped his Southern identity and competitive instincts. His father’s outdoor advertising business was based there.
He doesn’t maintain a publicly documented primary Savannah residence as an adult, but the city remains central to his personal story.
Ted Turner House Avalon — Clarification
Searches for “Ted Turner house avalon” refer to Avalon Plantation in Lamont, Florida — not a separate property. Turner named the Florida estate “Avalon” himself, inspired by Arthurian legend. It’s the same property listed under his Florida holdings above.
The CNN Center Apartment in 2026: Preservation and Restoration
After Turner left AOL Time Warner in 2003 and departed the board in 2006, his furniture and personal effects remained in the apartment for years. By the time CP Group inherited it, the space was mostly empty — some footpads under the bathroom sink, production equipment stored inside, non-functioning appliances.
CP Group — the real estate firm now redeveloping CNN Center as “The CTR” — made the decision to preserve and restore the apartment rather than repurpose it.
“Ted Turner’s impact on Atlanta is impossible to separate from the story of this building and the evolution of downtown itself,” said CP Group partner Chris Eachus. “Preserving his apartment was important to us because it represents a unique piece of that legacy.”
The restoration plans include:
- Replacing sun-damaged carpet with new carpet in the same green-blue color
- Repainting walls in the same shades of blue and bright pink
- Refilling the fish tank
- Repairing and installing a glass guardrail around the rooftop deck
- Furnishing the bedroom as an office and the living room with seating and a television
- Setting up the kitchen as a bar
- Adding art and memorabilia inspired by Turner’s time there
The space will serve as a private event venue and building tour stop — not a public museum, given the accessibility challenges of the spiral staircase.
Ted Turner Net Worth
Ted Turner net worth was $2.2 billion. His wealth came mainly from media businesses, especially CNN, TBS, TNT, and Cartoon Network under Turner Broadcasting System. He also gained value from the MGM film library, which generated long-term revenue through licensing.
In 1995, his company merged with Time Warner in a deal worth about $7.5 billion in stock value. At his peak, Turner was among the richest media entrepreneurs in the United States. He built wealth through cable expansion.
Fun Facts About the Ted Turner Atlanta House
- The CNN Center apartment is being preserved in 2026 as a private event space by CP Group — the new building owners — so future generations can experience the space Turner lived in.
- Former CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin set off silent alarms sneaking up to see the apartment in 2012. Security confronted her at the top of the stairs.
- Jane Fonda described the spiral staircase in her 2005 autobiography as “take-your-life-in-your-hands” steep.
- Turner previously slept on a Murphy bed in his CNN office before the apartment was built.
- The fish tank wall divider and wood-burning fireplace are the two most distinctive interior features of the 800-square-foot space.
- An ivory telephone was mounted next to the toilet in the bathroom.
- The bedroom wall is painted bright pink — a personal color choice that has survived decades.
- Turner once said his commute was nothing more than “walking up a flight of stairs” while millions of Atlantans sat in highway traffic.
- At his death, Turner’s total land holdings made him the fourth-largest private landowner in the United States with approximately 2 million acres.
- His bison herd of 45,000 head was the largest private bison herd in the world.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the CNN Center apartment like?
It was modest — about 800 square feet, with a fish tank wall, wood-burning fireplace, small kitchen, bright pink bedroom wall, 360-degree city views through floor-to-ceiling windows, and an ivory telephone next to the toilet in the bathroom.
Is the Ted Turner Atlanta apartment open to the public?
Not fully — it’s being restored by CP Group as a private event space and building tour stop. Access will be controlled due to the steep spiral staircase, which doesn’t comply with ADA accessibility standards.
What was Ted Turner’s biggest property?
Vermejo Park Ranch in northern New Mexico — approximately 560,000 acres straddling the New Mexico-Colorado border. He purchased it from Pennzoil in 1996.
Conclusion
The Ted Turner house in Atlanta tells you more about Ted Turner than any mansion ever could. It tells you about a man who measured value in utility, not square footage. Who cared about proximity to the work, not distance from the noise. Who owned 2 million acres and chose to sleep where the news was being made.
He’s gone now — died on May 6, 2026, at 87 years old. But that rooftop apartment above what used to be CNN Center is being preserved and restored. Future visitors will climb that same narrow spiral staircase. Stand at those same floor-to-ceiling windows. Look out over Atlanta.
And hopefully understand, for a moment, what it meant to be the kind of man who built an empire and chose to live above it. If you want a home like Ted Turner’s, explore our Services for luxury design, custom builds, and timeless architectural excellence today.
