Hilton Garden Inn Coming to Wildwood; 124-Room Upscale Hotel Adds a Top Amenity to the Atlanta-Area Mixed-Use Development.

Business Editors

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 20, 2003

Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE:CUZ) announced today the $1.2 million sale of 2.85 acres at its Wildwood development in suburban Atlanta for the project's first hotel, the Hilton Garden Inn(R) Atlanta NW/Wildwood. Wildwood Associates, a partnership that includes Cousins Properties, sold the land. The hotel, planned for the intersection of Windy Hill and Powers Ferry roads, is being developed by Atlanta's Southern States Management, which owns and operates five properties within the Hilton Family of Hotels in the Southeast. Construction on the hotel will begin this summer and completion is expected by summer of 2004. Richard Rauh & Associates is the project architect and Pinkerton & Laws Inc. has been selected as the general contractor.

"Even though Wildwood has housing, restaurants, a fitness center and other amenities, the project has always needed a mid-priced upscale business hotel," said Tad Leithead, senior vice president of Cousins' Office Division. "This hotel is perfectly suited both for our office clients in Wildwood Office Park and also for the surrounding area."

Carl Hoover, vice president of Southern States Management, added, "We are proud to be associated with two great companies like Cousins and Hilton and we are excited to bring them together at this project. The Hilton Garden Inn is the perfect hotel to serve Wildwood's business travelers."

The five-story hotel will have 124 guestrooms including 20 suites. Two of the suites will be upgraded with more rooms and higher finishes to accommodate VIP-level visitors. The hotel will feature a paneled boardroom and 2,400 square feet of meeting space, which will be dividable into three separate rooms and will accommodate up to 150 people. A complimentary 24-hour business center providing high-speed Internet access and fax capabilities will be available to all guests. All guestrooms will also offer complimentary high-speed Internet access, as well as a hospitality center that includes a refrigerator, coffee maker and microwave oven.

The Hilton Garden Inn Atlanta NW/Wildwood will feature a breakfast cafe offering made-to-order breakfast items like omelets, Belgian waffles and French toast. The hotel will include the Pavilion Pantry(R) retail market with a selection of beverages, snacks, sundries and microwaveable packaged foods. Other amenities include an outdoor swimming pool with whirlpool and a state-of-the-art fitness center with the latest equipment from Life Fitness.

Hilton Garden Inn has been named the Best Mid-Priced Hotel by Entrepreneur Magazine in April 2003 and was the recipient of the 2002 "Highest Guest Satisfaction Among Mid-Price Hotel Chains with Full Food Service" Award from J.D. Power and Associates(SM).

The Hilton Garden Inn brand has a portfolio of more than 160+ hotels located throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico, and is positioned as the mid-priced brand targeted to today's growing segment of value-conscious business and leisure travelers who are looking for upscale mid-priced accommodations. Hilton Garden Inn is part of Hilton Hotels Corporation, recognized internationally as a preeminent hospitality company which includes many of the world's best known and most highly regarded hotel brands, including Hilton(R), Conrad(R), Doubletree(R), Embassy Suites Hotels(R), Hampton Inn(R), Hampton Inn & Suites(R), Hilton Garden Inn(R), Hilton Grand Vacations Company(R) and Homewood Suites by Hilton(R).

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 14.2 million square feet of office and medical office space, 2.8 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 6.1 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.