Thomas Grady Cousins (born December 7, 1931) is an American
real estate developer
Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to other ...
, sports supporter and philanthropist, primarily based in
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
. Cousins was a leader in shaping the skyline in Atlanta, and he purchased and brought the
Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...
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
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 (golfer), Bobby Jones and much of its clubh ...
with the intent that its profits would go back to help the local
East Lake community. 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.
Commercial career
Cousins graduated with a
Bachelor of Business Administration
A Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is an undergraduate degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of four years and typically 120 credits of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of busine ...
(BBA) in 1952 from the
Terry College of Business
Terry is a unisex diminutive nickname for the given names Teresa or Theresa (feminine) or Terence, Terrance (masculine).
People
Male
* Terry A. Canales, American politician
* Terry A. Doughty (born 1959), American district judge
* Terry A. ...
at The
University of Georgia
The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...
in
Athens
Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
. 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.
He developed buildings such as the
CNN Center
The Center, formerly and still commonly called the CNN Center, is the former international headquarters of U.S. cable network CNN in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The main newsrooms and studios for several of CNN's news channels were located ...
, the
Omni Coliseum
Omni Coliseum (often called The Omni) was an indoor arena in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Completed in 1972, the arena seated 16,378 for basketball and 15,278 for ice hockey, hockey. It was part of the Omni Complex, now known as the CNN Cente ...
,
191 Peachtree Tower,
the Pinnacle Building in
Buckhead
Buckhead is the wikt:uptown, uptown commercial and residential district of the city of Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, comprising approximately the northernmost fifth of the city. Buckhead is the third largest business district within ...
and the first phase of the
Georgia World Congress Center
The Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC) is a convention center in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Enclosing some 3.9 million ft2 (360,000 m2) in exhibition space and hosting more than a million visitors each year, the GWCC is the world's largest LEED c ...
.
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
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 (golfer), Bobby Jones and much of its clubh ...
, which had fallen into disrepair. He hired
Rees Jones (the son of legendary golf course designer
Robert Trent Jones) to redesign the golf course, which has since hosted the
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...
's season ending
Tour Championship
The Tour Championship (stylized as the TOUR Championship) is a golf tournament that is part of the PGA Tour. It has historically been one of the final events of the PGA Tour season; prior to 2007, its field consisted exclusively of the top 30 ...
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. 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
In real estate, air rights are the property interest in the "space" above the Earth's surface. Generally speaking, owning or renting land or a building includes the right to use and build in the space above the land without interference by oth ...
over the CNN Center parking deck in Atlanta's massive railroad gulch.
He stepped down as head of
Cousins Properties
Cousins Properties Incorporated is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) that invests in office buildings in Atlanta, Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte, Austin, Texas, Austin, Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, Tampa, Florida, Tampa, ...
in January 2002.
Philanthropic works
In 1995 Cousins founded the
East Lake Foundation in Atlanta.
The Foundation partnered with the Atlanta Housing Authority
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"''.
Based on the results of the East Lake Foundation project, Cousins, with partner
Warren Buffett
Warren Edward Buffett ( ; born August 30, 1930) is an American investor and philanthropist who currently serves as the chairman and CEO of the conglomerate holding company Berkshire Hathaway. As a result of his investment success, Buffett is ...
, created
Purpose Built Communities, an organization focused on supporting other communities working to replicate the successful community development seen in Atlanta. Purpose Built Communities partners with many communities across the United States.
Sports franchises

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.
Cousins also owned the
Atlanta Flames
The Atlanta Flames were a professional ice hockey team based in Atlanta from 1972 until 1980. They played home games in the Omni Coliseum and were members of the West and later Patrick divisions of the National Hockey League (NHL). Along with t ...
until he sold them in 1980 for approximately $16 million to a consortium from Calgary.
He purchased the original
Atlanta Chiefs
The Atlanta Chiefs were an American professional soccer team based in Atlanta, Georgia. The team competed in the National Professional Soccer League (1967), National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) in 1967 and the North American Soccer League ...
soccer club of the
North American Soccer League
The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to
1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...
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.
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.
[''Tom Cousins gets Lifetime Achievement honor'' in ''Atlanta Business Chronicle'' March 3 2010, accessed 15 March 2010](_blank)
/ref>
In 1995 Cousins purchased East Lake Golf Club
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 (golfer), Bobby Jones and much of its clubh ...
and restored it to its former glory. He also helped to establish East Lake as the permanent home of the TOUR Championship
The Tour Championship (stylized as the TOUR Championship) is a golf tournament that is part of the PGA Tour. It has historically been one of the final events of the PGA Tour season; prior to 2007, its field consisted exclusively of the top 30 ...
which is the season ending tournament for the PGA TOUR
The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...
. Profits from East Lake Golf Club go to the East Lake Foundation which in turn goes to help the East Lake Community.
Awards & honors
*2015 Philanthropist of the Year by the Association of Fundraising Professionals Greater Atlanta Chapter.
*2012 Georgia Trustee. Given by the Georgia Historical Society, in conjunction with the Governor of Georgia
The governor of Georgia is the head of government of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and the commander-in-chief of the state's Georgia National Guard, National Guard, when not in federal service, and Georgia State Defense Force, State Defense Fo ...
, to individuals whose accomplishments and community service reflect the ideals of the founding body of Trustees
Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, refers to anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the ...
, which governed the Georgia colony from 1732 to 1752.
*2007 honorary degree in Doctor of Humane Letters from Oglethorpe University
Oglethorpe University is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Brookhaven, Georgia, United States. It was chartered in 1835 and named in honor of General James Edward Oglethorpe, founder ...
Further reading
*''House by House, Block by Block: The Rebirth of America's Urban Neighborhoods'' Alexander von Hoffman.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cousins, Tom
1931 births
Living people
Atlanta Flames
Atlanta Hawks owners
Businesspeople from Atlanta
North American Soccer League (1968–1984) executives
Terry College of Business alumni