Cousins Signs Lease With Southern Energy, Inc.; Commitment Brings 1155 Perimeter Center West to 99% Leased.

Business Editors

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 2, 2000

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) today announced it has signed a lease with Southern Energy, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE:SO), for the remaining 123,000 square feet of space at 1155 Perimeter Center West in Atlanta, bringing the project to 99% leased. A joint venture of Cousins and a commingled trust fund advised by J.P. Morgan Investment Management Inc., 1155 Perimeter Center West is leased entirely to Southern Energy, Inc. and will serve as its international headquarters facility.

The 362,000-square-foot office building complex includes a 12-story Class "A" office tower with 295,000 square feet that is currently under construction and expected to open during the fourth quarter of 2000; a one-story, 67,000-square-foot energy trading center that opened in December 1999 and houses Southern Company Energy Marketing, Southern Energy's marketing arm; and an eight-story parking garage. The project is located on five acres in Dunwoody, the heart of the Central Perimeter submarket, the largest suburban office market in metropolitan Atlanta. The site is bounded by Perimeter Center West and Peachtree Dunwoody Road, and immediately accessible to I-285, GA 400, the Sandy Springs MARTA Station and Abernathy Road.

Daniel M. DuPree, president and chief operating officer of Cousins, said, "We are pleased with the tremendous success of our newest office development and Southern Energy's decision to lease the balance of this project. The ability to fully lease this project six months before opening attests to the experience of our leasing and development teams, the strength of the Central Perimeter submarket and the demand for Class `A' space created by a rapidly growing Atlanta economy."

Southern Energy develops, builds, owns and operates power production and delivery facilities and provides a broad range of services to utilities and industrial companies around the world. It supplies energy in 10 countries on four continents. Its Southern Company Energy Marketing unit provides energy trading, marketing and financial services and other energy-related commodities, products and services to customers in North America. Southern Company Energy Marketing is the No. 2 marketer of electricity in the United States and one of the nation's 10 largest marketers of natural gas.

Southern Company (NYSE:SO), the largest producer of electricity in the United States, is also the parent firm of Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power, Mississippi Power and Savannah Electric.

J.P. Morgan Investment Management Inc., a subsidiary of J.P. Morgan & Company, currently manages nearly $316 billion in assets, approximately $12.6 billion of which are managed by the Real Estate Investment Group. J.P. Morgan Investment Management manages over 2.7 million square feet of office space in metropolitan Atlanta.

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 11.7 million square feet of office space, 3.6 million square feet of retail space and 1.0 million square feet of medical office space, and more than 300 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."