David Branch Launches Artisan Land Cos for Atlanta Land Buys

A mix of commercial real estate executives and colleagues from other segments of the private and academic sectors plan to raise $50 million and cast a wide net in search of bargains on land throughout metro Atlanta.

Artisan Land Companies is the brainchild of David Branch, a long-time Atlanta broker who serves as its senior partner. He started the firm with his brother Barry, a real estate professor at Georgia Tech, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported.

The two have joined with a roster of local C-suiters, including: O. Brent Reid, CEO of The Winter Companies; Scott Light, a retired Georgia Pacific senior executive; Ravi Srinivasan, president of technology company Sunray Enterprise; Phil Skinner of Arnall Golden Gregory’s real estate practice; and Duane Horton, president and CEO of McLemore Resort and Scenic Land Company.

The group aims to raise $50 million from high net worth individuals, family offices and private equity firms starting next month. The founders have an eye on buying development sites at bargain rates in a market where land prices are ranging downward of 40 percent from peak values a few years ago.

Artisan Land Companies plans to acquire land and prepare it for development. The development process would be open to public-private partnerships, and include zoning changes and other aspects of master-planning of some sites.

The firm has $2.5 million now, with a goal of being fully subscribed early next year to focus on parcels of land, starting in Atlanta, with consideration of locations anywhere in a four-hour drive from the city.

“We like the suburban sites in emerging markets that are flying under the radar, where nobody has really connected the dots,” David Branch told the outlet. “Our job is to acquire it, master plan it, and then tell the story.”

The firm has several sites that were transferred from prior ventures, including one in Bartow County and another in Macon.