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Cousins to Develop 31-Story Office Tower in Atlanta

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 5, 2004-- Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE: CUZ) announced today it will develop a 31-story, 500,000-square-foot office tower, with more than 50,000 square feet of retail space, at the intersection of Peachtree and Piedmont roads in the heart of Buckhead, Atlanta's financial district. The new building, part of an evolving 10-acre master plan that will eventually include additional office, retail and residential buildings, will be Buckhead's first office tower since 2001. Bain & Company, CB Richard Ellis and Cousins have all committed to space in the building, which is scheduled to start construction by mid-2005 and deliver by mid-2007.

"This is where a developer likes to be, starting the first building after a downturn rather than the last one during a boom," said Tom Bell, president and CEO of Cousins. "The Peachtree at Piedmont location is one of the last irreplaceable corners in Atlanta and deserves a project that makes a substantial impact on both the skyline and the street. Our approach - a mix of office, retail and eventually residential - will do exactly that. In addition, the early commitments from Bain and CBRE ensure the client roster will be just as impressive as the physical structure."

"In 2007, Bain will have completed its first decade in Atlanta and moving into the area's premier office tower will be a great way to mark that occasion," said Alan Colberg, managing director of Bain & Company's Atlanta office. "We chose a Buckhead location in 1996 because of the live-work-play atmosphere here and this project brings all of those components together on one site. We could not be more excited about the move."

Scotland Wright of Scotland Wright & Associates is representing Bain; CBRE's John Shlesinger, Sam Holmes and Anne Lofye are representing CBRE; and Tad Leithead, Walter Fish and Scott Rees of Cousins are representing the developer in the transactions.

Durham, N.C.-based Duda Paine Architects is the design architect for the project. Duda Paine's previous work with Cousins includes Charlotte's Gateway Village and Frost Bank Tower in Austin, Texas.

CB Richard Ellis (NYSE:CBG) is the world's leading commercial real estate services firm with more than 300 offices across 50 countries around the world. Bain & Company is one of the world's leading global business consulting firms, serving clients on issues of strategy, operations, technology, organization and mergers and acquisitions.

Cousins Properties Incorporated, headquartered in Atlanta, has extensive experience in the real estate industry including the development, acquisition, financing, management and leasing of properties. The property types that Cousins actively invests in include office, retail, medical office, industrial and land development projects. The Company's portfolio consists of interests in 10.6 million square feet of office and medical office space, 3.1 million square feet of retail space, over 1,937 acres of strategically located land tracts for sale or future development, and significant land holdings for development of single family residential communities. Cousins also provides leasing and management services to third-party investors; its client-services portfolio comprises 9.1 million square feet of office space. Cousins is a fully integrated equity real estate investment trust (REIT) that has been public since 1962 and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "CUZ." For more information on the Company, please visit Cousins' Web site at www.cousinsproperties.com.

Certain matters discussed in this news release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws and are subject to uncertainties and risks, including, but not limited to, general and local economic conditions, local real estate conditions, the activity of others developing competitive projects, the cyclical nature of the real estate industry, the financial condition of existing tenants, interest rates, the Company's ability to obtain favorable financing or zoning, environmental matters, the effects of terrorism, the failure of assets under contract for sale to ultimately close and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company's Current Report on Form 8-K filed on December 10, 2003. The words "believes", "expects", "anticipates", "estimates" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that its plans, intentions and expectations reflected in any forward-looking statement are reasonable, the Company can give no assurance that these plans, intentions or expectations will be achieved. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and speak as of the date of such statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of future events, new information or otherwise.