n e w s

July 26 , 2006
For more information, contact Colonial Properties Trust:
Bo Jackson, 678.461.3303, Executive Vice President, Office Division or
Barbara M. Pooley, 800.645.3917, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations

Colonial Center 300 at Townpark Achieves 95 Percent Occupancy Prior to July Delivery

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 26, 2006--Colonial Properties Trust (NYSE: CLP), a diversified real estate investment trust that owns a portfolio of multifamily, office and retail properties, announced that it will open Colonial Center 300 at TownPark, its new 150,000-square-foot office building in Orlando Florida, 95 percent occupied. Colonial Properties began construction of Colonial Center 300 as a speculative building in August 2005.

"We exceeded even our own expectations by bringing this speculative building to market fully leased at opening. It clearly demonstrates the strength of this submarket," said Tom Green, senior vice president of the office division for Colonial Properties. "We appreciate our clients' confidence in us as demonstrated by their desire to grow within Colonial TownPark."

Colonial Center 300 at TownPark, a four-story, 150,000-square-foot building, cost $22.0 million to build. It is the fifth office building developed by Colonial Properties in Colonial TownPark, its award-winning live, work and shop community. Colonial TownPark is the flagship development of Colonial Properties' mixed-use portfolio and includes residential homes and retail stores specifically designed to help clients recruit and retain top performing employees thus creating a "High Performance Workplace."

Three of the four clients who signed leases for the Colonial Center 300 building are existing Colonial Properties clients expanding their presence in TownPark:

• Bank of New York's subsidiary, Pershing LLC, will add 67,737 square feet in Colonial Center 300 to its existing 65,000 square foot presence in Colonial Center 100.


• The Hartford will occupy 23,121 square feet in Colonial Center 300, in addition to their existing lease commitments of 85,000 square feet in Colonial Center 200 and in Heathrow 400.


• Robert Half International Inc. will occupy 8,000 square feet in Colonial Center 300 in an expansion and relocation from Colonial Center 200.

Colonial Properties welcomes M/I Homes Inc. to Colonial Center 300. M/I Homes, one of the nation's leading builders of single-family homes, has signed a lease on 40,000 square feet to house its regional offices and a state-of-the-art showroom for homebuyer clients.

Colonial Properties Trust, through its subsidiaries, owns a portfolio of multifamily, office and retail properties where you live, work and shop in the Sunbelt. Colonial Properties Trust performs development, acquisition, management, leasing and brokerage services for its portfolio and properties owned by third parties. The company has a total market capitalization of approximately $5.5 billion. As of March 31, the company owns or manages 43,937 apartment units, 20.3 million square feet of office space and 11.6 million square feet of retail shopping space. Headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., Colonial Properties is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CLP and is included in the S&P SmallCap 600 Index. For more information, visit www.colonialprop.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Certain statements in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the company's actual results, performance, achievements or transactions to be materially different from the results, performance, achievements or transactions expressed or implied by the forward looking statements. Factors that impact such forward looking statements include, among others, real estate conditions and markets; performance of affiliates or companies in which we have made investments; changes in operating costs; legislative or regulatory decisions; our ability to continue to maintain our status as a REIT for federal income tax purposes; the effect of any rating agency action; the cost and availability of new debt financings; level and volatility of interest rates or capital market conditions; effect of any terrorist activity or other heightened geopolitical crisis; or other factors affecting the real estate industry generally.

Except as otherwise required by the federal securities laws, the company assumes no responsibility to update the information in this press release.

The company refers you to the documents filed by the company from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically the section titled "Risk Factors" in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005, which discuss these and other factors that could adversely affect the company's results.