Cousins Signs Morgan Stanley at Frost Bank Tower; Deals Continue Momentum of January Grand Opening at New Austin Landmark.

Business Editors

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 9, 2004

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) announced today that global financial services firm Morgan Stanley DW Inc. has signed a lease for 15,247 square feet at Frost Bank Tower, a 33-story, 525,000-square-foot office building in downtown Austin, Texas. The building is now 61 percent leased. The lease is the second deal at the building in less than two months, following Heritage Title Company of Austin's 17,757 square-foot lease, which occurred prior to the building's Jan. 21 opening.

"Having firms like Morgan Stanley and Heritage Title lease space at Frost Bank Tower solidifies this building's reputation as the place to do business in Austin," said Tim Hendricks, senior vice president for Cousins in Austin. "Combined with our excitement in opening the building, this is a great way to kick off the New Year. We are hopeful that we'll have more good news to announce in the coming months."

Larry Toon of The Staubach Co. represented Morgan Stanley and Michael Brown of Cousins Properties represented the landlord in the transaction. In the Heritage Title deal, Jamil Alam of Trammell Crow Co. represented the tenant and Brown represented Cousins.

Located on a 1.7-acre tract at the northeast corner of Fourth Street and Congress Avenue in downtown Austin, Frost Bank Tower is Austin's tallest office building at 515 feet. The building's tenants include Frost Bank, Graves, Dougherty Hearon & Moody, Jenkens & Gilchrist, Winstead Sechrest & Minick, Dewey Ballantine, Constructors and Associates, McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant, Taco Shack, Seattle's Best Coffee, Murphy's Deli and Westbank Dry Cleaning.

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 13.9 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 sale or commercial development. 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 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.