CUZ Cousins Properties Inc

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) announced today it has signed the American Cancer Society to a 274,000-square-foot lease at Inforum, a 994,000-square-foot building in downtown Atlanta. The space will be home to both the Society's International Headquarters, which is moving from its existing campus near Emory University, and its South Atlantic Division office, which is currently located at Lenox Park. The agreement brings Inforum to 98 percent leased. "Practically any part of metro Atlanta would have been thrilled to land the American Cancer Society. The competition among submarkets was fierce," said Larry Gellerstedt, president of Cousins' Office/Multi-family Division. "We were proud to put together a mutually attractive package that brought this tremendous organization to downtown Atlanta. It's yet another sign that downtown is headed in the right direction." John Shlesinger, Sam Holmes and Anne Lofye of CB Richard Ellis represented the Society, and Walter Fish and Scott Rees of Cousins represented the landlord in the transaction. The Society lease is Cousins' second major downtown Atlanta announcement in as many weeks. On Aug. 3, the company announced it agreed to purchase One Ninety One Peachtree Tower and plans to relocate its headquarters to the downtown building during the first half of 2007. 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, multi-family, retail, industrial and land development projects. The Company's portfolio consists of interests in 7.4 million square feet of office space, 3.8 million square feet of retail space, 1.3 million square feet of industrial space, one multi-family residential project and 23 single-family neighborhood developments, over 9,200 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 13 million square feet of office and retail 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 Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005. 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.