- Tom Cousins
Thomas Grady Cousins (born December, 1931) is a prominent
real estate developer primarily inAtlanta, Georgia .Important projects include
CNN Center , theOmni Coliseum ,191 Peachtree Tower , thePinnacle Building in Buckhead and the first phase of theGeorgia World Congress Center . He and competitorJohn Portman completely remade downtown Atlanta in the 1970s and 1980s.He also helped revive and redesign
East Lake Golf Club , which, formerly the golf course of theAtlanta Athletic Club (which had since moved toDuluth, Georgia ) and the home course of golfing great Bobby Jones, had fallen into disrepair. He hiredRees Jones (no relation to Bobby) to redesign the golf course, which has since hosted thePGA Tour 's season endingTour Championship several times, and become one of the leading golf courses in Atlanta since. This was part of a greater revitalization of the East Lake neighborhood around the golf course.Cousins graduated with a
Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A. ) in 1952 from theUniversity of Georgia in Athens.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.
Not to be confused with
Thomas Cousins the famous marine archaeologist.
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