Cousins Signs NOVA to 75,000 Square Feet at Concourse; Renewal and Expansion Marks Third Large Deal This Year for Landmark Atlanta Project.

Business Editors

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 9, 2003

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE: CUZ) announced today that Atlanta-based NOVA Information Systems Inc. has leased approximately 75,000 square feet at Concourse Corporate Center, a 2.1 million-square-foot office complex in north Atlanta. The lease represents an expansion of 37,000 square feet for NOVA, which is consolidating employees from nearby 219 Perimeter Center to Concourse. Cousins leases and manages Concourse Corporate Center for its owner, Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA).

"NOVA has been a great tenant for years and we're fortunate to have them consolidate here," said David Shope, director of leasing at Concourse. "The decision speaks to the quality of our project, its outstanding location and the wealth of amenities both inside and outside the project. Including the T-Mobile and MCI deals, this turned out to be a surprisingly good year for leasing at Concourse."

The NOVA lease is the third large leasing deal at Concourse this year. In October, T-Mobile finalized its renewal of 127,000 square feet in buildings I and IV and during the summer, MCI renewed its lease for 131,000 square feet at building VI. Through November, Concourse has seen approximately 500,000 square feet of new leases, expansions and renewals.

Leigh Martin and Kerry Davidsen of CB Richard Ellis represented NOVA and David Shope of Cousins Properties represented the landlord in the deal.

NOVA Information Systems, a leader in the payment processing industry, is a wholly owned subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB). NOVA partners with financial institutions, independent sales organizations, associations, government agencies, and community banks to offer integrated payment processing services to their merchants and retailers. NOVA's products include credit and debit card processing services, software applications, electronic check conversion, gift card solutions and other value-added services to more than 650,000 merchant locations in the United States and Europe. For more information visit www.novainfo.com.

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, 2.1 million square feet of retail space and more than 300 acres of strategically located land for future 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.