Photo: Steven Martine
Tim Downey is the founder and CEO of Southern Land Company. He serves as the visionary and driving force behind the concepts and designs that distinguish Southern Land Company’s communities.
Tim’s entrepreneurship began in college when he started a janitorial service. At the time, he already had a deep appreciation for and interest in thoughtful design, architecture, and horticulture. As Tim took on more real estate development clients with his janitorial business, some of them began giving him minor building repair projects followed by real estate assignments, providing Tim with unique opportunities to learn more about the industry. It was only a matter of time until Tim combined his longstanding interests with his initial real estate development experience and launched Southern Land Company in 1986.
Inspired by Walt Disney’s conviction that creativity, innovation, and team interaction create incredible results, Tim established a vertically integrated business model that enables direct communication between design, horticulture, construction, planning, operations, and hospitality professionals. Tim’s 35-year career with Southern Land Company has resulted in extraordinary, enriching single-family, multifamily, and mixed-use communities in eight markets across the U.S.—with more on the way. He has built a reputation for Southern Land Company that is anchored by creativity, quality, and kindness.
Passionate about supporting the broader communities in which Southern Land Company operates, Tim established the Angel Fund, a direct giving campaign that provides emergency funding to people in need. He is a member of the Board of Trustees for Montgomery Bell Academy, a private school for boys in Nashville.
Tim resides in the Nashville area with his wife. He has two grown sons and is a proud grandfather.