Artisan Land Companies (www.artisanlandcompanies.com), a groundbreaking land investment, development and marketing firm, has been launched by a group of experienced real estate executives with a cumulative prior involvement in over $20 billion in land acquisitions/dispositions, project master planning, construction, finance, development and public-private partnerships. 

The new venture intends to capitalize on current market conditions while acquiring strategic land assets in collaboration with founding partner firm SSG Realty Partners, which is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Artisan.

"Artisan Land Companies features a unique, unleveraged, all-equity land investment model that  resonates with high net-worth investors, family offices and private equity firms, all seeking  protection of principal while still achieving above-market returns,” said Barry Branch, long-time real estate development executive, current Ledbetter Professor of the Practice of Real Estate Development & Finance at Georgia Tech, and one of the SSG principals behind the formation of Artisan Land Companies.

“After the strategic combination with Artisan Land Companies, SSG Realty Partners will continue to provide extensive third-party land marketing services and plans to aggressively expand its regional land marketing activities by hiring several new partner-level land broker/advisors in 2024 and 2025,” said David Branch, who will continue to serve as Senior Partner & Chief Executive Officer for the combined Artisan/SSG entities.

Originally formed in 2005, SSG Realty Partners has successfully completed major land marketing assignments throughout the Southeast, including projects in Atlanta, Miami, Nashville, Chattanooga, Macon, Savannah and Bartow County, Ga. 

Backed by a new $50 Million All-Equity Land Investment Fund, expected to be fully subscribed by early 2025, Artisan Land Companies will focus on assembling, master planning, entitling, incentivizing, branding and developing strategically located land tracts in urban and suburban markets. Through its sister company, Artisan Interests, it has, since 2020, successfully undertaken three “pre-fund” land investment projects in Downtown Macon, Villa Rica and Kingston, Georgia. 

Artisan never incurs debt and never undertakes vertical development, instead creating fully zoned, “development-ready” land tracts which are then sold to residential and commercial developers.

Through public-private partnerships with municipal and governmental entities, the company aims to foster economic development, job growth, infrastructure enhancement and improved quality of life in communities across the Southeastern United States. 

Key principals and investors in Artisan Land Companies include brothers and SSG executives Barry Branch and David Branch; Brent Reid, CEO of Winter Companies; Scott Light, a retired former Sr. Executive with Georgia Pacific; Ravi Srinivasan, President, and Co-founder of technology/ IT firm Sunray Enterprise; Phil Skinner, Senior Member of Arnall Golden Gregory’s Real Estate Practice; and Duane Horton, President & CEO of McLemore Resort and Scenic Land Company.