Highwoods Properties Leases 40,000 Square Feet at 5405 Windward Parkway in Atlanta

RALEIGH, NC--(Marketwired - Apr 23, 2014) - Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE: HIW) has signed a long-term lease for 40,000 square feet with a new customer at 5405 Windward Parkway in Atlanta. The customer is Andritz Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of the Andritz Group, a globally leading supplier of plants, equipment, and services for hydropower stations, the pulp and paper industry, the metalworking and steel industries, and solid/liquid separation in the municipal and industrial sectors. 

The Company has now relet 97% of the 223,000 square feet vacated in October 2013. 

Ed Fritsch, President and CEO of Highwoods, stated, "We thank Andritz for choosing Highwoods and we applaud our Atlanta team for their rapid success in backfilling this building with two high-quality customers who are new to Highwoods."

Timothy Ryan, President of Andritz Inc. said, "Our employees are looking forward to the move. The property provides great amenities that have not been accessible for us previously."

About The Andritz Group
The Andritz Group is a globally leading supplier of plants, equipment, and services for hydropower stations, the pulp and paper industry, the metalworking and steel industries, and solid/liquid separation in the municipal and industrial sectors. The publicly listed, international technology Group is headquartered in Graz, Austria, and has a staff of around 23,700 employees. Andritz operates over 250 production sites as well as service and sales companies all around the world. The Andritz Group ranks among the global market leaders in all four of its business areas. One of the Group's overall strategic goals is to strengthen and extend this position. At the same time, the company aims to secure the continuation of profitable growth in the long term.

About Highwoods Properties
Highwoods Properties, headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, is a publicly traded (NYSE: HIW) real estate investment trust ("REIT") and a member of the S&P MidCap 400 Index. The Company is a fully-integrated REIT that provides leasing, management, development, construction and other customer-related services for its properties and for third parties. At December 31, 2013, Highwoods owned or had an interest in 32.2 million rentable square feet of in-service office, industrial and retail properties, 0.9 million rentable square feet of office properties under development and approximately 600 acres of development land. The Company's properties and development land are located in Florida, Georgia, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. For more information about Highwoods Properties, please visit our website at www.highwoods.com.

Certain matters discussed in this press release, such as expected leasing activity and the related assumptions underlying our expected results, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements are distinguished by use of the words "will", "expect", "intend" and words of similar meaning. Although Highwoods believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that its expectations will be achieved.

Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from Highwoods' current expectations include, among others, the following: the financial condition of our customers could deteriorate; development activity by our competitors in our existing markets could result in excessive supply of properties relative to customer demand; development, acquisition, reinvestment, disposition or joint venture projects may not be completed as quickly or on as favorable terms as anticipated; we may not be able to lease or re-lease second generation space quickly or on as favorable terms as old leases; our markets may suffer declines in economic growth; we may not be able to lease our newly constructed buildings as quickly or on as favorable terms as originally anticipated; unanticipated increases in interest rates could increase our debt service costs; unanticipated increases in operating expenses could negatively impact our NOI; we may not be able to meet our liquidity requirements or obtain capital on favorable terms to fund our working capital needs and growth initiatives or to repay or refinance outstanding debt upon maturity; the Company could lose key executive officers; and others detailed in the Company's 2013 Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent SEC reports.