Cousins Stone Aligns Moniker with Parent REIT

DALLAS-The name change is in, with the Dallas-Ft. Worth’s well-known Cousins Stone LP officially becoming Cousins Services LP. The moniker switch is in line with this year’s acquisition of the remaining interest in the Texas-based class A developer, leasing agent and property manager.

The change also completes the companies’ integration of Texas and the Atlanta-based firm’s operations now headed up by R. Dary Stone, one of the DFW’s high-profile commercial real estate professionals. He has been leading Cousins Properties since the acquisition’s final signing. The Texas team’s leaders are Cousins Stone veterans Michael Ablon, senior vice president of development in Dallas; Charles Cotten, senior vice president of client services; Mark Dickenson, senior vice president of leasing in Dallas and Tim Hendricks, senior vice president of development in Austin.

The newly created Cousins Services division maintains a portfolio in excess of 5.4 million sf in the DFW region and Austin and will continue as the development manager for the upscale Las Colinas. Cousins is the overseer of a 12,000-acre project for the largest landowner, Las Colinas Land LP, a subsidiary of Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association and JMB Realty. Cousins Properties’ portfolio totals 12.8 million sf of office, 3.1 million sf of retail and .9 million sf of industrial space plus 300 acres of raw land.

In a prepared statement, Thomas G. Cousins, Cousins Properties’ chairman and CEO, says “the new name and the addition of Dary Stone, founder of Cousins Stone’s predecessor, as our president and chief operating officer earlier this year signify the complete integration of two very successful companies under one name.” He says the results of the Cousins Stone acquisition in mid-1999 has not only been “exceptional,” but drove the Atlanta firm’s Texas entry and solidified relationships with other clients in the Southwest.

Stone, president and COO, says the integration will enable the team to “build on the momentum Cousins has already established in the Texas market through the skills and relationships of several strong real estate veterans as we move forward under one banner.