Highwoods Properties Signs 154,000 Square Foot Lease; Launches 203,000 Square Foot Development

RALEIGH, NC--(Marketwired - Sep 2, 2014) - Highwoods Properties, Inc. (NYSE: HIW) will begin development of a LEED-certified, multi-tenant office building located in the Company's Seven Springs development in Nashville's Davidson County's highly-desirable Brentwood submarket, a best business district (BBD). The building is 76% pre-leased to the life insurance division of American International Group, Inc. (NYSE: AIG), and will encompass approximately 203,000 square feet with structured parking. 

The Company's investment is expected to be approximately $59 million, which includes the value of existing Company-owned land. Construction will begin in the fourth quarter of 2014 and is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2016. 

Ed Fritsch, president and chief executive officer of Highwoods, stated, "We are thrilled to be providing a new Class A building for AIG, a premier provider of financial services and products. We welcome them as a new Highwoods customer and we applaud the efforts of our Nashville team who have worked hard to earn AIG's trust.

"Our Seven Springs development is very well located in the popular Brentwood submarket, one of Nashville's BBDs. Seven Springs currently encompasses a total of 333,000 square feet of office that is 95% leased, including LifePoint's new corporate headquarters, known as The LifePoint Hospital Support Center, and 41,000 square feet of new amenity retail that is 100% leased."

With the addition of this project, the Company's development pipeline encompasses 1.2 million square feet representing an investment of approximately $303 million that is 83.0% pre-leased.

To view a rendering of the new development please click on the following link:

http://www.highwoods.com/investor/Seven-springs-rendering.pdf.jpg

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 office REIT that owns, develops, acquires, leases and manages properties primarily in the best business districts (BBDs) of Atlanta, Kansas City, Memphis, Nashville, Orlando, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, Richmond, Tampa and the Triad. For more information about Highwoods Properties, please visit our website at www.highwoods.com.

Certain matters discussed in this press release, such as the expected cost, timing and impact of our development activity, 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.