Cousins to Develop Inhibitex Headquarters; New 51,000-square-foot building is the second HQ developed at North Point Research Park.

Business Editors

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 5, 2004

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE: CUZ) announced today it is developing a 51,000-square-foot office building at North Point Research Park, which is part of its 216-acre master-planned development on Westside Parkway in Alpharetta, Ga. Inhibitex Inc. an Alpharetta-based biopharmaceutical firm, has leased the facility to house its headquarters and research operations. The building, which Cousins expects will be completed in early 2005, is adjacent to the 51,000-square-foot headquarters building developed by Cousins in 1999 for pharmaceutical firm AtheroGenics.

"For the past five years, we've thought this area has had the potential to develop into a hub for life science companies. Our goal has always been to create a campus environment of first-class research and office facilities where biopharmaceutical and medical research firms can grow and prosper alongside companies with a similar purpose and vision. Developing this new building for a firm like Inhibitex is the next step toward making that a reality," said John McColl, senior vice president for Cousins Properties.

A portion of the Inhibitex headquarters project is being funded by a State of Georgia pilot program to assist bioscience research companies with their facilities needs. Governor Sonny Perdue announced the pilot program, which is being administered by the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, in December 2003.

Richard Courts IV of Carter represented Inhibitex in the transaction. Mr. Courts was also instrumental in negotiating the AtheroGenics headquarters facility.

Inhibitex, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery, development and commercialization of novel antibody-based products for the prevention and treatment of serious bacterial and fungal infections in the hospital setting. It currently has two product candidates, Veronate(R) and Aurexis(R), in clinical development, and three others in preclinical development. These product candidates are all based upon the company's proprietary MSCRAMM(R) protein platform.

Cousins Properties Incorporated ("The Company"), 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, 2.6 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.