Archived News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 16, 2006
Web Site address: www.cousinsproperties.com
LEASING MOMENTUM BUILDING AT THE AVENUE® MURFREESBORO
More Than a Dozen Retailers Committed to Planned 808,000-Square-Foot Center
ATLANTA (May 19, 2006) – Cousins Properties Incorporated (NYSE: CUZ) and Faison Enterprises announced today a list of the retailers that have committed to The Avenue Murfreesboro, a planned 808,000-square-foot open-air retail center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville. Situated at the Manson Pike interchange on Interstate 24, The Avenue Murfreesboro will eventually be home to more than 110 retailers and restaurants.
Retailers that have committed to the project include Ann Taylor Loft, Barnes & Noble, Belk, Chico's, Jos. A Bank, New York & Company, Talbots, Ulta and White House/Black Market. Complementing this specialty mix at the project are Best Buy, Dick's Sporting Goods and Cost Plus World Market. With these commitments, The Avenue Murfreesboro's 692,000-square-foot Phase I is now nearly 50 percent committed.
Construction on The Avenue Murfreesboro – a planned 50/50 joint venture of Cousins Properties and Faison Enterprises – is expected to begin in July and the project is expected to open in Fall 2007.
"The pace of retailer commitments is really starting to pick up as we move closer to our planned start date. This large development has the right combination of regional access, population growth and broad tenant mix to be a model retail opportunity for our company," said Joel Murphy, president of Cousins' Retail Division. "We expect to have more announcements in the coming months as retailers and restaurants continue to commit to being a part of The Avenue's unique environment."
"Our combined vision of creating the highest-quality super-regional shopping destination for middle Tennessee is one step closer to reality. Murfreesboro is one of the fastest growing submarkets in the South and the retail mix we're putting together there should be the perfect draw for this area," said Mike Cohn, senior managing director with Faison. "We couldn't be more pleased to be a part of the dynamic growth planned for Murfreesboro."
The Avenue Murfreesboro is expected to be the centerpiece of 400 acres of new master-planned commercial development along newly-opened Medical Center Parkway, slated to include retail, office, hotel, convention center and public spaces. Medical Center Parkway connects the new Manson Pike interchange on I-24 with the City of Murfreesboro's Gateway project, plans for which include the new 300-bed Middle Tennessee Medical Center along with medical and professional offices.
Faison Enterprises, Inc. is a privately-held development company with a diversified product portfolio that includes retail, commercial and residential project development, management and acquisitions services. With more than 40 years in the business and holdings of approximately $1 billion, including $500 million of new projects under development, the Charlotte NC based company manages and develops properties throughout the Mid-Atlantic and South and maintains regional offices in Bethesda MD, Washington D.C., Charlotte NC, Charleston SC, Atlanta GA, Orlando and Delray Beach, FL. For more information, visit www.faison.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, multi-family, retail, industrial and land development projects. The Company's portfolio consists of interests in 7.4 million square feet of office space, 3.8 million square feet of retail space, 0.8 million square feet of industrial space, two multi-family residential projects, over 9,000 acres of strategically located land tracts for sale or future development, and significant land holdings for development of single-family residential communities. Cousins also provides leasing and management services to third-party investors; its client-services portfolio comprises 12.7 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 on the Company, please visit Cousins' Web site at 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 Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005. 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.
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