SSG Realty Partners & Artisan Land Companies Names Kelly Wilson Director of Retail Properties Group and Regional Partner

Atlanta (March 7, 2025) — SSG Realty Partners LLC (SSG) has hired Kelly Wilson as Director of the Firm’s Retail Properties Group and Regional Partner for both SSG and its parent, Artisan Land Companies, LLC. In this role, Wilson will be responsible for negotiating the acquisition and disposition of significant retail and strategic development sites across Georgia and the Southeastern United States and representing landlords and tenants in retail leasing and sales transactions.

With over 35 years of experience spanning ground-up mixed-use development, adaptive reuse retail leasing, outlet malls, food halls, hospitality and restaurant franchising, Wilson brings unparalleled insight into the retail sector. She has worked extensively on both the tenant and ownership sides, giving her a unique ability to structure deals across multiple retail product types. As Director of SSG’s Retail Properties Group, Wilson will play a critical role in managing the acquisition, entitlement and disposition of development sites as well as executing retail leasing and sales assignments.

“Kelly’s deep industry expertise, extensive network, and ability to execute complex retail transactions make her an invaluable addition to our team,” said David Branch, Senior Partner & Chief Executive Officer of SSG Realty Partners. “Her leadership will significantly strengthen our retail investment and development initiatives across the Southeast.”

Wilson joins SSG Realty Partners and its parent firm, Artisan Land Companies, after serving for over six years as Senior Vice President of Leasing and Tenant Representation at Ackerman Retail. A Lifetime Member of the Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors (ACBR) Million Dollar Club, she was recognized as a 2023 Top Ten Retail Producer.

Prior to her tenure at Ackerman Retail, Wilson was a partner at The Windsor Realty Group, where she specialized in tenant representation for local, regional, and national brands. She also served as Senior Vice President at Lennar Commercial, directing the third-party leasing of a 3-million-square-foot portfolio of Class- A lifestyle and power centers, including The Avenue East Cobb, The Avenue West Cobb, The Avenue Peachtree City (GA), and The Avenue Viera (FL). Additionally, Wilson played a pivotal role in launching Tanger Outlets in Pooler, GA, as Senior Vice President of Leasing at Ben Carter Enterprises.

“I am thrilled to join SSG Realty Partners and look forward to leveraging my experience to drive retail investment and development opportunities in Georgia and beyond,” Wilson said. “SSG’s reputation for strategic acquisitions and innovative retail development aligns perfectly with my passion for curating high-performing retail destinations.”

ABOUT SSG REALTY PARTNERS

SSG Realty Partners LLC was founded in 2005 and provides comprehensive land investment advisory services to clients in major markets throughout the Southeast. SSG's senior principals have been involved in the acquisition, assembling, entitlement, financing and development of major projects throughout the U.S. and Europe, involving virtually every type of development. For more information, visit www.ssgrealtypartners.com.

Media Contact

Thornton Kennedy

Cell: (404) 210-0363

thornton@prsouth.net

Family Of Former Georgia Governor, Senator Sells Big Chunk Of 900-Acre Estate

Courtesy of SSG Realty Partners. A portion of the Still Water Estate that sold to Rockhaven Homes.

February 21, 2025 Jarred Schenke, Atlanta 

The scion of former three-term Georgia Gov. Eugene Talmadge and Sen. Herman Talmadge has sold a significant portion of the family's Clayton County estate to make way for a new housing development. 

Rockhaven Homes purchased 400 acres of Still Water Estate, a 900-acre wooded site surrounding the J.W. Smith County Reservoir, for $8.2M, SSG Realty Partners CEO David Branch told Bisnow. 

Atlanta-based Rockhaven is planning to develop a single-family community on the site, the second portion of the Talmadge estate to be sold over the past two years. 

Eugene Talmadge purchased the land for Still Water Estate in the 1930s and passed it down through the generations. Today, it is managed by Lyniece Talmadge, who was married to Herman Talmadge’s late son Robert, Branch said. Robert Talmadge drowned in 1975 in Lake Lanier.

Branch said the decision to sell the estate was a difficult one for the family because it was “part of their soul,” but it was necessary. 

“Anytime you’ve owned this property for 100 years and you lived on it and fished on it and raised your kids on it … there are a lot of memories,” Branch said. “They knew the time had come. The timing was right, and it was an asset that needed to be monetized before it got eaten up in taxes.”

The property has been annexed into the city of Lovejoy in preparation for the Rockhaven development, Branch said. The entire estate sprawls across Henry and Clayton counties.

Geosam purchased 130 acres on the Henry County side last year with plans to develop a residential community called The Grove, Branch said. 

SSG is also marketing 160 acres on the south side of the reservoir for the family and is in discussions with a potential buyer, Branch said. 

“That’s going to be more commercial. Henry County wants to see something very different” from the Grove project, Branch said. 

His firm is a subsidiary of Artisan Land Cos. and brokered the land sales that led to developments such as One Atlantic Center and Allen Plaza in Downtown Atlanta. Branch and SSG Regional Partner Peyton Stinson are working with the Talmadge family on the dispositions.

“To David and I, the most remarkable thing is the widower with two kids was able to safely manage this” property all those years without putting any debt on it, Stinson said.

“Lyniece is an incredibly savvy person.”

Contact Jarred Schenke at jarred@bisnow.com

Mega-proposal Forge Atlanta advancing to "active programming phase"

How the 10 acre project would lord over I-20, as seen looking west, toward West End.

URbantec Announces Forge Atlanta on 10 Acre Artisan Yards Site

Urbantec’s Forge Atlanta mixed-use community, will be built on 10 acres in South Downtown and feature digital infrastructure and blockchain technology.

Vineyard Park Entrance and Roundabout Construction Continues

Vineyard Park entrance and roundabout construction on Redtop Mountain Road and I-75, Bartow County, Georgia.

David Branch and John Speros Sell Porter Square in Brookhaven

Tony Wilbert - CoStar News

Artisan Yards Development is Latest Addition to South Downtown "Ring of Fire".

SSG Realty Partners Announces Artisan Yards Site

Commercial Real Estate

10-acre south downtown site hits the market

A rendering of what could come to a 10-acre downtown site that’s now on the market.

By Amy Wenk - Staff Writer, Atlanta Business Chronicle
Mar 4, 2019

A nearly 10-acre site near south downtown’s Garnett MARTA station is hitting the market.

Gourmet Foods International is relocating from its headquarters at Ted Turner Drive and Whitehall Street. An affiliate of the wholesale food company now is seeking buyers for the property.

SSG Realty Partners is marketing the site, calling it Artisan Yards and offering a glimpse to the high-rise development that could be built there.

The marketing team is pitching the site as a “new creative center” and says it could house more than 10 million square feet of mixed-use development. Towers on the property could reach 50 to 60 stories, says SSG. A buyer could also remake existing buildings on the land, including large warehouses and a brick apartment building that dates back to the 1930s.

The property overlooks Interstate-20 and could benefit from big projects planned nearby, such as the massive redevelopment of the Gulch.

“It is in the middle of all of the key downtown sub-centers and in close proximity to both historic Castleberry Hill district and the dynamic new sports and entertainment district emerging around Mercedes-Benz Stadium, State Farm Arena and the Centennial Park District,” Peyton Stinson, director of SSG’s Strategic Land Group, said in an announcement.

SSG Realty Partners and Ackerman & Co. open 4.6 Acre Site on Peachtree Road in Brookhaven for Bids.

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Florida Investor Plans $100 Million Redevelopment on Peachtree

IG3 Real Estate, SDS Real Property Seek Developer for Large-Scale Project

Photo Credit: IG3 Real Estate

September 17, 2018 / TONY WILBERT

A Florida Investment and development firm thinks the time is right to redevelop a large tract on Peachtree Road in Brookhaven, Georgia’s bustling business district.

IG3 Real Estate of Miami and SDS Real Property Holdings, Ltd. Hired two veteran land and investment brokers to find a developer and /or partner to lead the redevelopment of the 4.6-acre Porter Square/Broookhaven site at Peachtree and Colonial Drive. The property at 3920-3930 is across the street from Cherokee Plaza Shopping Center and about 300 yards from the Brookhaven MARTA Station.

IG3 and SDS envision a $100 million development on the tract that recently has been promoted as an ideal corporate headquarters site. The components of the project have yet to be determined, IG3 said.

“The market will tell us,” IG3 said. “It will definitely have a retail component. The group has hired HKS Architects to design a concept building for the property.

The property is located on a stretch of Peachtree just northeast of the city of Atlanta limits. The area has a heavy concentration of retail uses, though a second medical office building is planned directly across the street from Porter Square. The Porter Square property is in the Brookhaven-Peachtree Overlay District that allows the type of development IG3 and SDS are planning, so no rezoning will be required.

The Porter Square property has been owned by SDS, headed by Atlanta native and real estate investor Starr Porter, for more than 30 years. The site was home to a Hastings Nursery location and houses a Christmas tree operation during the holidays. It also is home to a Kauffman Tire auto center that will continue to operate until the redevelopment begins.

Porter said the brokers hired to market the redevelopment property, John Speros of Ackerman & Co. and David Branch of SSG Realty Partners, LLC have successfully represented SDS and his family for many years in markets across the Southeast. The brokers have been involved with Porter Square for 25 years.

Carlos Imery, who leads IG3, said the “truly transformative project” will reactivate the site across the street from a successful medical office development recently acquired by Caddis Healthcare Real Estate of Dallas. “We are extremely bullish on greater Atlanta and continue to see strategic investments and development opportunities in the area,” said Imery, whose IG3 will serve as asset manager overseeing the Porter Square redevelopment.

IG3 has been busy in Georgia recently, having led the acquisition of real estate assets in the state valued at nearly $100 million.

Barry Branch and David Branch of Atlanta Join Forces

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Did You Hear? Branch Brothers Officially Join Forces After Four Decades.

A Daily Look at the Movers and Shakers in Commercial Real Estate.

Barry Branch and David Branch

February 25, 2019 / TONY WILBERT

Brothers Barry Branch and David Branch, who separately have worked on tens of billions of dollars in real estate transactions globally over the past 40 years, finally decided it was time to officially form a company of their own.

The two brothers said this week that they have launched SSG Realty Partners, an investment sales firm that markets land and prime development sites in addition to raising equity for development on those parcels. The new entity combines David Branch’s land marketing company, Site Services Group, with Barry Branch’s Branch Real Estate Advisors, a capital markets firm. The company is based in Atlanta.

David Branch said he and his brother have worked together on specific projects in the past, such as the Terminus International Tennis Club in Atlanta’s northwest suburbs and Vineyard Park in Bartow County, Georgia, where SSGC Realty, Pope & Land Enterprises and Mason Capital Partners are planning a $300 million, mixed-use project. The brothers decided the time was right to formalize their business relationship because their complimentary skill sets and industry experience could create a platform for a full-service land company, David Branch said.

“We are cautiously optimistic that the current real estate cycle has another couple of years of strong market demand ahead, but we are intentionally building a land company designed to prosper in both up markets and down markets,” David Branch told CoStar News. “The best land buys are often facilitated during market downturns.”

The Branch brothers have worked on some of Atlanta’s iconic real estate developments, David Branch helped negotiate the ground lease for the 50-story One Atlantic Center, formerly know as IBM Tower, in Midtown, as well as the sale of the Peachtree Portal property in downtown Atlanta that now is home to the Allen Plaza mixed-use development. In 2012, David Branch assembled 1,300 acres for the LakePoint Sporting Community and Town Center mixed-use project in Bartow County, about 35 miles northwest of Atlanta.

A professor of real estate development at Georgia Tech, Barry Branch has led financing efforts for more than $12 billion of commercial real estate projects since 1971. For more than 13 years, he served as a senior executive for legendary architect/developer John C. Portman, Jr., where Barry Branch secured funding for the Atlanta Apparel Mart, Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel in Atlanta, the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles and the Brussels International Trade Mart in Belgium. Later, as chief executive officer of the Dutch Institutional Holding Co., the U.S. real estate subsidiary of pension fund PGGM, Barry Branch teamed with developers Hines, Cousins Properties and Trammell Crow Co. on several major projects including the office tower at 191 Peachtree St. in Atlanta and Washington D.C.’s Market Square development on Pennsylvania Avenue.

SSG’s next major project could be at 3920-3930 Peachtree Road in Brookhaven, just northeast of Atlanta’s city limits. David Branch and broker John Speros took the property to market last year on behalf of IG3 Real Estate of Miami and SDS Realty Property Holdings, Ltd. The group received 10 offers for the property from multifamily and mixed-use developers, David Branch said.

“We have been tweaking the final project design and expect to finalize a contract within the next couple of weeks and move forward to a closing in the third or fourth quarter of 2019,” he said.