Cousins Announces Charlesworth Relinquishing CFO Position; Will Remain as Chief Investment Officer on Part-Time Basis.

Business Editors

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 6, 2004

Several Promotions Announced as Part of Orderly Transition

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) announced today that Tom G. Charlesworth, executive vice president, chief financial officer and chief investment officer, has advised the company of his decision to retire from full-time service at the end of this year. James A. Fleming, now senior vice president and general counsel, will be named executive vice president and chief financial officer in August. Mr. Charlesworth, 55, will begin transitioning the duties of chief financial officer to Mr. Fleming this summer and will assist on an as-needed basis through the end of the year. Mr. Charlesworth will continue to serve as executive vice president and chief investment officer, as well as senior advisor to President and CEO Tom Bell, on a part-time basis.

The Company also announced today that Craig B. Jones, now senior vice president and president of its Office Division, will become executive vice president and chief administrative officer. In this role, he will oversee the various administrative functions previously overseen by Mr. Charlesworth, as well as certain strategic initiatives. In the Office Division, Senior Vice President John S. McColl will head all office development and leasing activities and Senior Vice President Jack A. LaHue will oversee asset management and property management activities. Both will report to Vice Chairman Dan DuPree.

Cousins also announced today that Mark A. Russell has been promoted to senior vice president and senior investment officer. Mr. Russell is responsible for investment underwriting, property and corporate financial modeling, the financial analysis group and investor relations. He will continue to report to Mr. Charlesworth.

"While we very much regret losing Tom Charlesworth's full-time service, we are fortunate to have a strong team in place, with talented executives able to step up and assume larger responsibilities," Bell said. "Tom has served this company in an outstanding manner for many years and I am grateful that he will continue to play an important role as CIO of our Company."

Bell continued, "Jim Fleming, Craig Jones, John McColl, Mark Russell and Jack LaHue are proven executives and I am confident they will flourish in their new roles. Change is inevitable and often invigorating. It is our goal to always have a strong bench with qualified people at all levels available to step up and assume larger responsibilities."

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, retail, medical office, industrial and land development projects. The Company's portfolio consists of interests in 14.1 million square feet of office and medical office space, 2.6 million square feet of retail space, over 1,980 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 6.3 million square feet of office 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.