Cousins Signs America First Insurance at The Points at Waterview; Regional office deal brings Telecom Corridor property to 96% leased.

Business Editors

RICHARDSON, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 4, 2004

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) announced today that America First Insurance, a Dallas-based regional property and casualty company, has leased approximately 28,000 square feet at The Points at Waterview, a 201,000-square-foot Class A office building in Richardson's Telecom Corridor. The lease brings The Points at Waterview to 96 percent leased, far outpacing the overall Telecom Corridor submarket, which was 70 percent leased at year-end 2003.

America First Insurance will relocate their home office to Waterview from Dallas' Central Expressway submarket. The Waterview office will serve a region that includes Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma. The company is expected to occupy its space in April 2004.

The Points at Waterview is owned by Cousins Properties Incorporated and leased and managed by Cousins Properties Services LP. Since purchasing Waterview in December 2000, Cousins has renovated the building's lobby and upgraded its building and parking systems.

"This lease affirms the strength of The Points at Waterview, even in a challenged market. The building's quality, committed ownership and direct access to SH 190 continue to attract exceptional tenants," said Mark Dickenson, senior vice president of leasing for Cousins Properties Services. "We are pleased to welcome America First Insurance and look forward to making their tenure with us a great success."

America First Insurance cited location, signage opportunities and the ability to locate its workforce on a single floor as factors in relocating their office to The Points at Waterview.

"The move to Waterview will put us closer to our employee base in Dallas' northern suburbs," said Phil Broughton, president and chief executive officer of America First Insurance. "Consolidating to one floor will improve efficiencies and communication among our employees. By putting our staff first, we better serve our independent agent force and customers to whom we are committed."

Bill Knopick, vice president of leasing, represented Cousins. Laurie Brigance and Brad Selner, both vice presidents, Southwest Corporate Services for the Staubach Company and David Meisenhelder of Carmen Commercial Real Estate Services, represented America First Insurance.

America First Insurance is part of Liberty Regional Agency Markets (RAM), a business unit of Boston-based Liberty Mutual Group. Liberty RAM is a group of regional property and casualty companies that distribute their products and services exclusively through independent agents and brokers. Concentrating on small commercial and personal lines markets, RAM is represented throughout the United States by a variety of locally branded names: Golden Eagle Insurance, Pacific Region; Montgomery Insurance, Southeast Region; Colorado Casualty, Mountain Region; Peerless Insurance, Northeast Region; Indiana Insurance, Midwest Region; America First Insurance, Gulf Region; and Hawkeye-Security Insurance, North Central Region. The group also is represented by two specialty insurers: Summit Holding Southeast, offering workers' compensation products and services; and GoAmerica Auto Insurance, offering specialty auto insurance. Each RAM company is led by its own local management team, and focuses on fulfilling the product and service needs of the independent agents in its respective region. RAM companies have a combined direct written premium of more than $3 billion.

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 and land development projects. The Company's portfolio consists of interests in 14 million square feet of office and medical office space, 2.5 million square feet of retail space and more than 280 acres of strategically located 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."

Cousins Properties Services LP provides office leasing and management, and land-development services to third-party investors. Its portfolio comprises 6.3 million square feet of client-owned office space. Cousins has served as Development Manager of Las Colinas, a prestigious 12,000-acre master-planned business and residential community adjacent to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, since 1992. For more information, please visit 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.