Cousins Properties Expands Western Region Retail Development Pipeline with New Power Center in San Jose, California; Grand Opening of San Jose MarketCenter Scheduled for March 2006.

ATLANTA -- Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) announced today it has purchased the land and started the development of the $80 million, 360,000-square-foot San Jose MarketCenter in San Jose, California. The power center will be anchored by Target, which will own its 140,000-square-foot store, Marshall's, Cost Plus, Michael's, PetsMart and Office Depot. In addition, the center will contain 16,500 square feet of inline shops and several outparcels. San Jose MarketCenter is scheduled to open in March 2006.

San Jose MarketCenter is located on a 100-year-old railroad yard within a redevelopment project area designated by the San Jose Redevelopment Agency. The San Jose MarketCenter is situated on 34 acres at the intersection of Coleman Avenue and Taylor Street adjacent to downtown San Jose and is currently 80% committed. Up to 14 outparcels, which are in various stages of negotiation, will be developed on the periphery of the center with restaurants, financial institutions and other users. The site also features convenient freeway on and off-ramps to Highway 87 and I-880.

"A high profile development such as San Jose MarketCenter is an excellent demonstration of our commitment to expanding our Retail Division's development pipeline within the Western Region. Many of our retailer customers have been searching for opportunities to establish a presence in urban infill locations such as San Jose MarketCenter. We are pleased we can offer them a first-class venue with such great visibility, strong regional access and close proximity to dense, quality neighborhoods," said Joel Murphy, president of Cousins' Retail Division. "This development is exactly the type of opportunity we want to pursue. It features a high-barrier-to-entry location, access to a growing population base and a supportive local economic development effort."

According to Bob Manarino, Western Region Director for Cousins' Retail Division, "The City of San Jose and the San Jose Redevelopment Agency have been instrumental in driving redevelopment adjacent to the downtown area. A number of residential developments have already been completed, and more are under construction or in the works, which is quickly building a critical mass and an affluent population base in downtown San Jose. Assembling this site was complex, but Cousins' past experience in developing infill locations across the country enabled us to bring this project to fruition when others may not have. Based upon the initial response we have received from national retailers, we believe the reward will be well worth the effort."

Nadell Architects of Costa Mesa, California, will serve as architect for the project, while San Jose-based BKF will serve as site engineer and San Jose Construction will serve as general contractor.

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 7.2 million square feet of office and medical office space, 3.2 million square feet of retail space, over 2,000 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 10.4 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.

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 Current Report on Form 8-K filed on December 10, 2003. 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.