Cousins Announces Sale of San Jose MarketCenter

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE: CUZ) announced today several transactions, including the sale of San Jose MarketCenter and the successful restructuring of debt on two assets.

The San Jose MarketCenter sold for $85 million, generating an estimated net gain on sale of $6.5 million. Cousins completed development of the 360,000-square-foot power center in 2006.

The Company also announced the extension of the loan on The Avenue® Murfreesboro and a new loan on Meridian Mark. The $113 million loan on Avenue Murfreesboro, a 750,000-square-foot power center outside of Nashville, has been extended three years to July 2013 with no additional recourse requirements. Meridian Mark, a 160,000-square-foot medical office building in Atlanta, has been re-financed for an additional 10 years, reducing the interest rate from 8.27 percent to 6 percent while increasing proceeds from $22.2 million to $27 million.

The net proceeds of the San Jose sale, along with proceeds from the Meridian Mark re-financing and borrowings from the Company’s line of credit, were used to pay off a $100 million term loan scheduled to mature in August 2012 and eliminate an interest rate swap associated with the term loan for a cost of approximately $9 million.

Larry Gellerstedt, Cousins President and Chief Executive Officer, noted, “These transactions highlight the importance we have placed on strengthening the balance sheet through the sale of non-core assets and reducing near-term maturities, particularly our remaining recourse debt. We will look to build on our success with these strategies as well as our focus on improved leasing and fee services.”

About Cousins Properties

Cousins Properties Incorporated is a leading diversified real estate company with extensive experience in development, acquisition, financing, management and leasing. Based in Atlanta, the Company actively invests in office, multi-family, retail and land development projects. Since its founding in 1958, Cousins has developed 20 million square feet of office space, 20 million square feet of retail space, more than 3,500 multi-family units and more than 60 single-family neighborhoods. The Company is a fully integrated equity real estate investment trust (REIT) and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CUZ. For more, please visit 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 risk. These include, but are not limited to, general and local economic conditions (including the current general recession and state of the credit markets), local real estate conditions (including the overall condition of the residential markets), 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 those described in Part I, Item 1A of the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009. 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.

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