Tom Cousins | |
---|---|
Born | Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. | December 7, 1931
Alma mater | University of Georgia |
Occupation(s) | Real Estate Developer, Philanthropist, Sports Supporter |
Known for | Owning the Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Flames |
Spouse | Ann Cousins |
Thomas Grady Cousins (born December 7, 1931) is an American real estate developer, sports supporter and philanthropist, primarily based in Atlanta, Georgia. Cousins was a leader in shaping the skyline in Atlanta, [1] and he purchased and brought the Atlanta Hawks to the city.
Cousins is also known for his community redevelopment and his desire to help local neighborhoods. In 1995, he purchased the historic East Lake Golf Club with the intent that its profits would go back to help the local East Lake community. [2] Cousin's model of community redevelopment is now being implemented in cities all over the country through a program he founded to replicate the East Lake model called Purpose Built Communities. [3]
Cousins graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in 1952 from the Terry College of Business at The University of Georgia in Athens. He and his father started their real-estate company in 1958. During the 1960s, Tom Cousins moved from real-estate to property development and sports franchising. [4]
He developed buildings such as the CNN Center, the Omni Coliseum, 191 Peachtree Tower, the Pinnacle Building in Buckhead and the first phase of the Georgia World Congress Center. [5] He and competitor John Portman completely remade downtown Atlanta in the 1970s and 1980s.
He also helped revive and redesign the home course of golfing great Bobby Jones, East Lake Golf Club, which had fallen into disrepair. He hired Rees Jones (no relation to Bobby) to redesign the golf course, which has since hosted the PGA Tour's season ending Tour Championship several times, and become one of the leading golf courses in Atlanta. Cousins and his family financed the project to the tune of about $25 million. [6] [7] This was part of a greater revitalization of the East Lake Meadows housing project in the East Lake neighborhood around the golf course.
He retains air rights over the CNN Center parking deck in Atlanta's massive railroad gulch.
He stepped down as head of Cousins Properties in January 2002.
In 1995 Cousins founded the East Lake Foundation in Atlanta. [8] The Foundation partnered with the Atlanta Housing Authority [5] to build a mixed-income apartment block in a local low-income area with a high crime rate and put additional resources into education options and job provision for the tenants. Columnist Leonard Pitts Jnr. noted that these changes saw "violent crime down 96 percent" and "78 percent of kids passing the state math test when only 5 percent could do it before". [8]
Based on the results of the East Lake Foundation project, Cousins, with partner Warren Buffett, created Purpose Built Communities, an organization focused on supporting other communities working to replicate the successful community development seen in Atlanta. Purpose Built Communities currently partners with 13 other communities in the United States. [9]
In April 1968, Cousins purchased the NBA's St. Louis Hawks basketball team and moved them to Atlanta. At the time Atlanta did not have a major-league caliber arena, but Cousins was building a local arena complex. [10] Cousins also owned the Atlanta Flames until he sold them in 1980 for approximately $16 million to a consortium from Calgary. [11] He purchased the original Atlanta Chiefs soccer club of the North American Soccer League from the Braves in 1973, during this time they were renamed the Atlanta Apollos.
In 1993 Tom Cousins was the recipient of the Bill Hartman Award which recognises former varsity athletes from the University of Georgia who have demonstrated excellence in their profession. [12] On March 8, 2010, Cousins was awarded with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2010 Atlanta Sports Awards for his role in promoting sports in Atlanta. [13]
In 1995 Cousins purchased East Lake Golf Club and restored it to its former glory. He also helped to establish East Lake as the permanent home of the TOUR Championship which is the season ending tournament for the PGA TOUR. [14] Profits from East Lake Golf Club go to the East Lake Foundation which in turn goes to help the East Lake Community.
Oglethorpe University is a private college in Brookhaven, Georgia. It was chartered in 1835 and named in honor of General James Edward Oglethorpe, founder of the Colony of Georgia.
Augusta is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia. The city lies directly across the Savannah River from North Augusta, South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Georgia's third most populous city, Augusta is located in the Fall Line section of the state.
Robert Tyre Jones Jr. was an American amateur golfer who was one of the most influential figures in the history of the sport; he was also a lawyer by profession. Jones founded and helped design the Augusta National Golf Club, and co-founded the Masters Tournament. The innovations that he introduced at the Masters have been copied by virtually every professional golf tournament in the world.
Sea Island is a privately owned, unincorporated area of Glynn County, Georgia, and is part of the Golden Isles of Georgia, which include St. Simons Island, Jekyll Island, Little St. Simons Island, and the mainland city of Brunswick. The well-visited seaside resort island is located along the Atlantic Coast just east of St. Simons Island. It lies about 60 miles (97 km) north of Jacksonville, Florida, and about 60 miles (97 km) south of Savannah, Georgia, and is reachable via a causeway from St. Simons Island. The Anschutz family of Denver, Colorado, owns two resorts with limited public access and maintains a gated community for around 500 single-family residences.
Inman Park is an intown neighborhood on the east side of Atlanta, Georgia, and its first planned suburb. It was named for Samuel M. Inman.
Rees Jones is an American golf course architect.
William Berry Hartsfield Sr., was an American politician who served as the 49th and 51st Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia. His tenure extended from 1937 to 1941 and again from 1942 to 1962, making him the longest-serving mayor of his native Atlanta, Georgia.
Chattahoochee Plantation is an affluent unincorporated community near East Cobb, Georgia, in Cobb County, Georgia, United States.
Brookhaven is a city in the northeastern suburbs of Atlanta that is located in western DeKalb County, Georgia, United States, directly northeast of Atlanta. On July 31, 2012, Brookhaven was approved in a referendum to become DeKalb County's 11th city. Incorporation officially took place on December 17, 2012, on which date municipal operations commenced. With a population of around 55,366 as of 2021, it is the largest city in DeKalb County. The new city stretches over 12 square miles (31 km2).
Ansley Park is an intown residential district in Atlanta, Georgia, located just east of Midtown and west of Piedmont Park. When developed in 1905-1908, it was the first Atlanta suburban neighborhood designed for automobiles, featuring wide, winding roads rather than the grid pattern typical of older streetcar suburbs. Streets were planned like parkways with extensive landscaping, while Winn Park and McClatchey Park are themselves long and narrow, extending deep into the neighborhood.
East Lake is a transit station in Atlanta and Decatur, Georgia, serving the Blue Line of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) rail system. It has a track in each direction serving an island platform. When the station entered service on June 30, 1979, the opening ceremony took place in the south parking lot.
William Porter Payne is the former chairman of Augusta National Golf Club, having served in that position from 2006 to 2017 and overseeing the introduction of the first women to the club's membership rolls.
East Lake is a neighborhood on the east side of Atlanta, Georgia, situated in DeKalb County. It is the easternmost of the 238 neighborhoods in the City of Atlanta. It is home to East Lake Golf Club, the site of PGA's annual Tour Championship. East Lake lies mostly within the 30317 zip code.
East Lake Golf Club is a private golf club 5 miles east of downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1904, it is the oldest golf course in the city. East Lake was the home course of golfer Bobby Jones and much of its clubhouse serves as a tribute to his accomplishments.
Sports in Georgia include professional teams, Olympic Games contenders and medalists, collegiate teams in major and small-school conferences and associations, and active amateur teams and individual sports.
In 1994 the Atlanta Housing Authority, encouraged by the federal HOPE VI program, embarked on a policy created for the purpose of comprehensive revitalization of severely distressed public housing developments. These distressed public housing properties were replaced by mixed-income communities.
The East Lake Foundation is a non-profit organization located within the city of Atlanta, Georgia. The purpose of the Foundation is the revitalization of the East Lake Community.
Purpose Built Communities is a non profit organization founded by Tom Cousins, Warren Buffett, and Julian Robertson to replicate Cousin's East Lake model of community redevelopment within other cities and areas throughout the United States. As of 2021, Purpose Built Communities is present in 15 states throughout the United States.
Bob Cupp was an American golf course designer. He designed many golf courses worldwide and was the president of the American Society of Golf Course Architects in 2012–13.
Trump Towers Atlanta was a proposed high-rise project that was to be built in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Located at the intersection of 15th Street and West Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta, the project was unveiled in 2006 and promoted by Donald Trump in a 2007 season finale of The Apprentice. The project ultimately faltered, and the property was foreclosed upon in 2010.
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