CUZ Cousins Properties Inc

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE: CUZ) announced today it is selling 167 acres of land at two Atlanta-area industrial parks to Weeks Robinson Properties, an Atlanta-based industrial development, management and leasing company, for approximately $18.5 million. The transactions, which will close through next year, include one site totaling 44 acres at King Mill Distribution Park in Henry County, south of Atlanta, and three sites totaling 123 acres at Jefferson Mill Business Park, northeast of Atlanta. Cousins will continue to own the existing buildings and remaining land at the parks. The Company also announced today the resignation of Forrest Robinson, president of Cousins� Industrial Division. Robinson is leaving the Company to partner with industrial development veteran Ray Weeks in the formation of Weeks Robinson. Since 2004, Weeks has partnered with Cousins to develop industrial buildings in Atlanta. Bob Currie, senior vice president of leasing for the Industrial Division, is also leaving Cousins to join Weeks Robinson, which has been awarded the leasing assignment for the Cousins/Weeks-owned industrial buildings at each park, as well as marketing the two available retail sites at Jefferson Mill. The Company will not replace Robinson or Currie, and its operating industrial properties will now be managed internally by the Office/Multi-Family Division. Cousins will continue to partner with Seefried Properties on two Dallas-area industrial projects. Weeks Robinson will replace Cousins on the master development team for Fort Gillem, a 1,427-acre military base in suburban Atlanta, but Cousins will continue to have a financial participation in that redevelopment. �Forrest has been a great asset to Cousins during his four years here and his hiring of Bob was a key factor in the growth of our young industrial business. We will miss them both,� said Tom Bell, chairman and CEO of Cousins Properties. �Combined with their departure, this land sale means Cousins is not pursuing new speculative industrial development opportunities in Atlanta, giving us more time and resources for office, retail, residential and mixed-use opportunities. Those have been our core businesses for decades, and we believe they can deliver the best returns for our shareholders.� 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 7.7 million square feet of office space, 4.8 million square feet of retail space, 2.0 million square feet of industrial space, 353 for-sale units in three under-development multi-family projects, 24 residential communities under development, approximately 9,000 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 12.9 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 (including the overall condition of the residential market), 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, 2007. 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.