Colonial Properties Trust Announces Development of Metropolitan Midtown in Charlotte, North Carolina.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Colonial Properties Trust (NYSE: CLP), a real estate investment trust that owns a portfolio of multifamily, office and retail properties, announced that it has entered into a joint venture with Pappas Properties LLC and Collett & Associates to develop Metropolitan Midtown, a mixed-use development in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The project will feature the region's only vertically stacked retail anchors - a Target store and a Home Depot Expo Design Center - plus 150,000 square feet of office space, three distinct offerings of for-sale residential properties, and an additional 198,000 square feet of retail. Colonial Properties will take a lead role in the development and leasing of Metropolitan's office space and supplement the retail effort already put forth by Collett & Associates.

"We are thrilled to be involved with Metropolitan Midtown and associated with Pappas Properties and Collett & Associates," said Reynolds Thompson, chief executive officer of Colonial Properties Trust. "Our business strategy as a REIT has been to leverage our existing expertise through investments in mixed-use developments, and Metropolitan Midtown is a perfect fit."

"The addition of Colonial Properties Trust to the Metropolitan team fits our strategy of bringing best-in-class expertise to all facets of a project," said Peter Pappas, president of Pappas Properties. "Colonial Properties' strength and experience will allow us to complete the project sooner so Charlotte can enjoy one of the Southeast's truly unique urban mixed-use developments."

Colonial Properties has experience on similar mixed-use projects, including the award-winning Colonial TownPark in Orlando, Fla., and Colonial Brookwood Village in Birmingham, Ala., currently under construction. Colonial Brookwood Village, which includes a 160,000-square-foot office tower, retail and future for-sale residential, is very similar to Metropolitan Midtown because it features similar mixed-use characteristics offering street level retail along with a class A corporate office setting and its proximity to exclusive residential neighborhoods. "The $130 million investment in Metropolitan is Colonial Properties' largest to date in Charlotte, a key market where the company already has a significant portfolio of apartment properties, for-sale condominiums and office space," said Weston Andress, president and chief executive officer.

Colonial Properties Trust, through its subsidiaries, owns a portfolio of multifamily, office and retail properties where you live, work and shop in the Sunbelt. Colonial Properties Trust performs development, acquisition, management, leasing and brokerage services for its portfolio and properties owned by third parties. The company has a total market capitalization of approximately $5.6 billion. As of June 30, the company owns or manages 44,757 apartment units, 19.7 million square feet of office space and 11.9 million square feet of retail shopping space. Headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., Colonial Properties is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CLP and is included in the S&P SmallCap 600 Index. For more information, visit www.colonialprop.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Estimates of future earnings, by definition, and certain other statements in this press release may, constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the company's actual results, performance, achievements or transactions to be materially different from the results, performance, achievements or transactions expressed or implied by the forward looking statements. Factors that impact such forward looking statements include, among others, real estate conditions and markets; performance of affiliates or companies in which we have made investments; changes in operating costs; legislative or regulatory decisions; our ability to continue to maintain our status as a REIT for federal income tax purposes; our ability to close transactions; the effect of any rating agency action; the cost and availability of new debt financings; level and volatility of interest rates or capital market conditions; effect of any terrorist activity or other heightened geopolitical crisis; or other factors affecting the real estate industry generally.

Except as otherwise required by the federal securities laws, the company assumes no responsibility to update the information in this press release.

The company refers you to the documents filed by the company from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically the section titled "Risk Factors" in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005, as may be updated or supplemented in the company's Form 10-Q filings, which discuss these and other factors that could adversely affect the company's results.