Cousins Properties Acquires $25 Million Class ``A'' Office Project in the Richardson/Plano Submarket of Dallas.

Business Editors

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 3, 2001

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) today announced that it has acquired a 200,000-square-foot Class "A" office building located within the Richardson/Plano submarket of Dallas, Texas for $25.4 million. The project is situated on approximately 15 acres of land, which will accommodate the development of an additional 60,000-square-foot office building. The Company is pursuing the development of a second office building on the site but has not yet committed to proceed with this phase of the project.

The existing four-story building, to be renamed The Points at Waterview, was designed by HKS Architects and completed in 1998, and includes advanced design features such as extra clear height on all floors for a modular-driven layout, state-of-the-art HVAC, efficient, 50,000-square-foot floor plates and approximately 950 surface parking spaces. The building will be professionally leased and managed by Cousins Stone LP.

Located at 3400 Waterview Parkway in Synergy Business Park and just south of the George Bush Turnpike (SH190), the project is contiguous to the campus of the University of Texas at Dallas and situated in the heart of the Richardson Telecom Corridor(R). The strategic location and superb accessibility of the Telecom Corridor(R) to a highly skilled workforce make it home to more than 600 high technology companies. Among the 600 are six of the world's ten largest telecommunications equipment companies, including Nortel Networks, Ericsson, Alcatel, Fujitsu, Motorola and Lucent Technologies. With a high-tech employment base of over 80,000 daytime workers, the Telecom Corridor(R) has been one of the fastest-growing employment centers in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex - making it the largest Dallas/Fort Worth daytime employment center outside of downtown Dallas.

With a current vacancy rate of 2.8% for Class "A" office properties and a current inventory of approximately 11.9 million square feet of Class "A" and Class "B" office space, the Richardson/Plano submarket is one of the most vibrant office markets in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

"We are excited to be able to acquire such a strategic asset in the heart of the most balanced and dynamic submarket in the Dallas Metroplex. This is a wonderful way to demonstrate our long term commitment to a well-considered Dallas development and property ownership program," said Dary Stone, president of Cousins Stone LP.

"Based upon the number of opportunities we have already reviewed and the significant presence Cousins Stone has in this part of the country, we believe the Texas and Southwest markets will become a very meaningful part of our portfolio," added Craig Jones, president of Cousins' Office Division.

The seller of The Points at Waterview is an affiliate of 3dfx Interactive Inc., a technology company that recently announced plans to sell substantially all of its assets and liquidate the company. The affiliate currently occupies 89,050 square feet of space in the building, which it will vacate by July 2001. Cousins expects to release the vacant space in the first half of 2001. Cisco Systems is the next largest tenant and occupies approximately 65,000 square feet, with the current lease term expiring in 2005. Other existing tenant leases have current terms expiring as follows: 12,000 square feet expiring in 2002; 28,000 square feet expiring in 2005; and 7,000 square feet expiring in 2006.

Based upon existing leases, the Company expects a yield of approximately 9.75% per annum on the purchase price (including the cost of the development site) in the first quarter of 2001. Results after the first quarter will vary based upon the results of the releasing effort. If the releasing effort achieves budgeted levels, the yield per annum in the second quarter will be approximately 5.25% on the purchase price (due to 'downtime' between old and new leases), with the existing building stabilizing at a yield per annum of just over 10.0% on the expected total cost in the third quarter of 2001. Of course, results could vary depending on the success of the releasing effort. If the Company developed a 60,000-square-foot office building on the available development site, it would expect additional costs of construction and development of approximately $7.0 million and would expect an overall yield on the entire project at stabilization of approximately 10.8% per annum on total anticipated costs of $35 million. The foregoing yield figures are net of internal management fee expense, and the foregoing cost figures include internal leasing and development fees. Therefore the actual cash yields would likely be greater than these shown.

Cousins Properties Incorporated 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 and land development projects. The Company's portfolio consists of interests in 12.8 million square feet of office space, 3.6 million square feet of retail space and .9 million square feet of medical office space, and over 300 acres of land for future commercial development. 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."

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 economic conditions, local real estate conditions, interest rates, the Company's ability to obtain favorable financing, and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 1996.