Trader Joe's Signs at San Jose MarketCenter; Popular grocer signs for 12,200 square feet; Cousins gets assistance from City of San Jose

Business Wire, Sept 7, 2006

ATLANTA -- Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) announced today that an affiliate, Cousins San Jose MarketCenter, LLC, has signed grocer Trader Joe's Company Inc. to a 12,200-square-foot lease at San Jose MarketCenter, a 362,000-square-foot retail center in downtown San Jose, California. Cousins will develop a stand-alone building at the center which will be occupied by Trader Joe's and an additional retailer, with construction expected to begin in October and expected store opening in May 2007. Trader Joe's joins retailers including Target, Marshalls, Office Depot, PetSmart, Michael's and Cost Plus World Market at the center. The lease with Trader Joe's was made possible by an innovative subsidy offered to Cousins by the City of San Jose.

"Trader Joe's is the perfect addition to our center and, more importantly, a boost for the continuing revitalization of downtown San Jose," said Joel Murphy, president of Cousins' Retail Division. "We are grateful to San Jose's city leaders, whose financial support to Cousins was a key factor in our finalizing this agreement. Grocery stores are vital to building community and we think this Trader Joe's will be a catalyst for other retail and residential projects in San Jose's core."

San Jose MarketCenter is one of five MarketCenters in Cousins' portfolio. The center, situated on 34 acres at the intersection of Coleman Avenue and Taylor Street adjacent to downtown San Jose, is currently 85 percent leased.

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 7.5 million square feet of office space, 4.6 million square feet of retail space, 2 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.