Cousins Properties Incorporated is a publicly traded

real estate investment trust A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, and in most cases operates, income-producing real estate. REITs own many types of commercial real estate, including office and apartment buildings, warehouses, hospitals, shopping cente ...

(REIT) that invests in

office building An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific dut ...

s in

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Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

, and

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. The company has developed notable properties including

CNN Center The CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, is the international headquarters of the Cable News Network (CNN). The main newsrooms and studios for several of CNN's news channels are located in the building. The facility's commercial office space is occu ...

Omni Coliseum Omni Coliseum (often called The Omni) was an indoor arena in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. Completed in 1972, the arena seated 16,378 for basketball and 15,278 for ice hockey, hockey. It was part of the CNN Center, Omni ...

, 191 Peachtree Tower, and Emory Point in Atlanta. As of December 31, 2019, the company owned wholly or through joint ventures 38 properties comprising 21,767,000 square feet.

History

The company was founded in 1958 by

Tom Cousins Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

. In 1962, the company became a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (l ...

via an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

. In 1965, the company built an office building in downtown Atlanta. In the 1970s, the company expanded into regional malls, real estate finance, and insurance but pared back after the economy softened. In 1987, Tom Cousins formed the Cousins Foundation and funded it with stock in the company. In 2002, Thomas Cousins retired from his position as CEO, but remained chairman of the board of directors until the end of 2006, at which time he retired. R. Dary Stone also stepped down from the president and COO positions in 2002. In 2004, the company partnered with Jim Wilson and Associates, Inc. to develop The Avenue at Carriage Crossing. In 2006, the company sold

Frost Bank Tower The Frost Bank Tower is a skyscraper in Austin, Texas, United States. Standing 515 feet (157 m) tall with 33 floors, it is the fifth tallest building in Austin, behind The Independent, The Austonian, Fairmont Austin, and the 360 Co ...

, which it developed in 2004, to

EQ Office EQ Office is a real estate investment company that owns 80 office properties comprising 40 million square feet. The company is owned by funds managed by The Blackstone Group. The company was formerly known as Equity Office. History The company w ...

for $188 million. The company also sold Bank of America Plaza in Atlanta for $436 million. In 2012, the building was sold at a

foreclosure Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the collateral for the loan. Formally, a mortg ...

auction for $235 million. In 2013, the company acquired Park Oak Central Tower. It also acquired

Greenway Plaza Greenway Plaza is a business district located along Interstate 69 (U.S. Highway 59) within the Interstate 610 loop in southwestern Houston, Texas, west of Downtown and east of Uptown. The district is located immediately west of Upper Kirby, n ...

for $950 million. In 2016, the company sold 191 Peachtree Tower for $268 million. The company also sold The Points at Waterview for $26.8 million and North Point Center East for $92.3 million. In 2016, the company acquired

Parkway Properties Parkway Properties, Inc. was a real estate investment trust that invested in office buildings in the Sun Belt. In 2016, the company was acquired by Cousins Properties. Notable properties owned by the company included Liberty Place, Phoenix ...

and spun off its Houston assets into Parkway, Inc. In 2017, the company sold the

American Cancer Society The American Cancer Society (ACS) is a nationwide voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer. Established in 1913, the society is organized into six geographical regions of both medical and lay volunteers operating in more than ...

Building in Atlanta for $166 million.

References

External links

{{Authority control 1958 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) 1960s initial public offerings Companies based in Atlanta Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Financial services companies established in 1958 Real estate investment trusts of the United States