CUZ Cousins Properties Inc

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE: CUZ) announced today it has signed new leases totaling more than 214,000 square feet at One Ninety One Peachtree Tower, a 50-story, 1.2-million-square-foot landmark office building in downtown Atlanta. While several of the new leases are expansions or moves within the downtown Atlanta office market, the two largest leases � with architects Cooper Carry and law firm Ogletree Deakins � are from Buckhead and Midtown, respectively, and will bring more than 350 employees to downtown. The companies with new leases at One Ninety One include Synergy Workplaces (expansion), HOK Group, Atlanta Equity Investors, Deloitte & Touche (expansion), Harold A. Dawson Company, Grey Global, Cooper Carry and Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart P.C. Cousins has now signed more than 362,000 square feet in new leases since acquiring One Ninety One in September 2006. �We see the success we�re having at One Ninety One as validation of the revitalization movement in downtown Atlanta. Companies that are here are choosing to stay and expand and others from Midtown and Buckhead are now giving downtown serious consideration,� said Tom Bell, chairman and CEO of Cousins. �I hope this trend continues at One Ninety One, but more importantly, I hope more firms recognize the value of relocating to downtown Atlanta and the positive impact downtown�s reemergence can have on the entire region.� The new leases bring the building to 78 percent leased and once the moves are complete, the building will be approximately 55 percent occupied. When Cousins purchased the building in September 2006, it was 51 percent leased and less than 20 percent occupied. 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 7.6 million square feet of office space, 5.3 million square feet of retail space, 2.0 million square feet of industrial space, 671 for-sale units in two under-development multi-family projects, 24 residential communities under development, over 9,100 acres of strategically located land tracts, and significant land holdings for development of single-family residential communities. The Company also provides leasing and management services to third-party investors; its client-services portfolio comprises 14.3 million square feet of office and retail space. The Company 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 its 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 risks associated with development projects (such as delay, cost overruns and leasing/sales risk of new properties), 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 ability of the Company to close properties under contract and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company�s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Company�s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006. 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.