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Cobb Energy Centre for the Performing Arts Cobb Energy Secures Naming Rights to New Performing Arts Centre at Cobb Galleria

Largest naming rights agreement for a performing arts centre

ATLANTA, GA - January 26, 2005 — Cobb Energy Management Corporation, a Marietta, Georgiabased company, has secured naming rights to the regional performing arts centre under construction at Cobb Galleria Complex.

The facility is named: Cobb Energy Centre for the Performing Arts.

“By lending our name to the performing arts centre, it fills a need locally for a state-of-the-art facility for the arts, while promoting the Cobb Energy brand in places—regionally and nationally— we would never have been able to go,” said Dwight Brown, Cobb Energy president and chief executive officer. “This is a good business decision for us.”

Cobb Energy markets a diverse line of commercial and residential products, including natural gas, telecom, electric contractor referrals, high-speed internet, surge suppression, tree works and outdoor lighting. Cobb Energy is an affiliate of Cobb Electric Membership Corporation (Cobb EMC). Cobb Energy invested $20 million for naming rights to what promises to be a regional performing arts landmark. It is believed the agreement breaks new ground, locally, nationally and internationally, in the dollarvalue amount for naming rights for an art’s facility.

The greatly anticipated naming rights agreement was announced Wednesday, January 26 during groundbreaking ceremonies for the project, at Akers Mill Road and Cobb Galleria Parkway, adjacent to Interstate 75, in northwest Atlanta.

Cobb Energy Secures Naming Rights to New Performing Arts Centre at Cobb Galleria “We are extremely pleased to have Cobb Energy as our partner in an enterprise so important to the metro Atlanta community,” said Earl Smith, chairman of the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum and Exhibit Hall Authority, which will oversee operation of the facility.

“We have, in Cobb Energy, not only a successful local company that is on the move,” Smith said, “but a company that is very supportive of what we are doing. Cobb Energy and the Authority have known each other for years. This is a personal relationship between partners that genuinely want each other to succeed.”

In its search for a naming partner, the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum and Exhibit Hall Authority identified and made preliminary inquiries with at least a dozen corporations in the region. A member of the Authority suggested Cobb Energy as a prospective partner. Familiarity and a sense of shared community purpose, Smith said, “made us feel comfortable in reaching an agreement.” “It’s nice to have a partner we know,” said Cobb Energy’s Dwight Brown. “But beyond that, our management and board of directors were impressed with the scope and quality of the development. This is a premier project and a premier example of a corporate/community alliance.”

A performing arts centre for the area was first conceived in a feasibility study in the late 1980s. Spearheading the project have been the Cobb-Marietta Coliseum and Exhibit Hall Authority, the Cobb County Board of Commissioners, and the management team of Cobb Galleria Centre.

Cobb Energy Centre for the Performing Arts will include a 2,750-seat theater, special event space, 1,000-space parking deck, full-service food and beverage capabilities, and rehearsal facilities. Projected opening of the centre is mid-2007.

About Cobb Energy

Cobb Energy Management Corporation (Cobb Energy), affiliate of Cobb Electric Membership Corporation (Cobb EMC), provides diversified energy-related and non-energy-related products and services to residential and commercial customers. Incorporated in 1997 as a for-profit entity and located in Marietta, Georgia, Cobb Energy markets products and services under the Cobb Energy brand and through alliances with local and nationally recognized marketers. Cobb Energy residential product offerings include SCANA Energy® natural gas*, LeeStar® local and long distance telephone service*, InterLink Control security , Surge Shield surge protection, LineGuard interior wires and pipes repair plan*, Complete Health healthcare discount program, TreeWorks tree trimming and removal, home improvement loans, and electrical contractor referrals. Cobb Energy products for commercial customers include SCANA Energy® natural gas*, InterLink Control security, surge protection, outdoor lighting, telecom products and high-speed Internet access*.

These products and services are provided by nationally recognized companies and offered through alliances with Cobb Energy Management Corporation. 

Energy Secures Naming Rights to New Performing Arts Centre at Cobb Galleria

About the Cobb Energy Centre for the Performing Arts

The Cobb Energy Centre for the Performing Arts—the first major performing arts facility built in metro Atlanta in four decades—promises to be one of the most spectacular performance theaters in the country. The facility’s state-of-the-art stage systems and design features will delight performers and audiences, and support sweeping artistic programming—from Broadway productions, opera and ballet to concerts, corporate events and community theater. The project fulfills a longstanding vision to have a world-class performing arts venue among the diverse offerings of Cobb Galleria Centre. At a cost of $96 million, the center will include a 2,750-seat theater, special event space, a 1,500-space parking deck, full-service food and beverage capabilities, and rehearsal facilities. The Cobb Energy Centre for the Performing Arts will be a catalyst for cultural arts initiatives in metro Atlanta and throughout the southeast. The center is projected to open in 2007.