Cousin Properties CUZ recently announced that it is under contract to buy a trophy lifestyle office property in Downtown Austin, TX, which is 100% leased to a Fortune 20 company (S&P: AA+) through 2038. The net purchase price for the property is $521.8 million, and the transaction is expected to close in December, subject to customary closing conditions.

The property under consideration is 601 West 2nd Street, also known as Sail Tower, which spans around 804,000 square feet. Developed in 2022 near the Second Street entertainment district in Downtown Austin, it lies in the vicinity of Cousins’ existing 1.7 million square foot office portfolio in the region.

Cousins’ Austin portfolio is exhibiting strong leasing on the back of tenants’ preference for premium office spaces to attract top talent, aiding in their growth curve. The addition of the above property to this portfolio will enhance its quality, yielding immediate incremental revenues.

As per Colin Connolly, the president and CEO of Cousins Properties, “We are thrilled to add this iconic office property, with a strong investment grade customer, to our Austin portfolio.”

Cousins also announced that it has begun a public offering of 9.5 million shares of its common stock. The net proceeds received from the offering will be used to fund a part of the above acquisition.

CUZ: In a Nutshell

Cousins makes concerted efforts to upgrade portfolio quality with trophy assets’ acquisitions and opportunistic developments in high-growth Sun Belt submarkets. Recently, it acquired another lifestyle office property, Vantage South End, in Charlotte’s thriving South End submarket for $328.5 million. This strategic acquisition aligned with Cousins’ Sun Belt-focused strategy, enhancing its presence in one of Charlotte's most dynamic submarkets.

Cousins is also seeing a recovery in demand for its high-quality, well-placed office properties, as highlighted by a rebound in new leasing volume. In the first nine months of 2024, the company executed 114 leases for a total of 1.6 million square feet of office space, with a weighted average lease term of 7.8 years.

Shares of this REIT, carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), have rallied 32.2% over the past six months, outperforming the industry’s growth of 12.7%.

Analysts also seem positive about this stock, with the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its 2024 FFO per share being revised marginally northward over the past month to $2.68.

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Other Stocks to Consider

Some other top-ranked stocks from the broader REIT sector are Welltower WELL and Alexander & Baldwin Holdings ALEX, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Welltower’s 2024 FFO per share has been revised marginally upward over the past month to $4.26.

The Zacks consensus estimate for Alexander & Baldwin Holdings’ current-year FFO per share has been revised marginally upward over the past month to $1.35.

Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represents funds from operations (FFO), a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.

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