JLL Arranges $31.5M Preferred Equity Placement and Office Sale for Cousins Properties in Austin

JLL Capital Markets has completed two separate Austin, Texas transactions involving Cousins Properties, the firm announced Aug. 4, 2026. The deals include the sale of Research Park Plaza V, a 172,854-square-foot Class A office building in Austin's Northwest submarket, and a $31.5 million preferred equity placement to capitalize 5th & Walsh, a ground-up mixed-use development in the West 5th Street corridor being developed by Endeavor Real Estate Group.

Research Park Plaza V Sale

JLL Capital Markets' Ryan Stevens, Drew Fuller and Jeff Coddington represented Cousins Properties (NYSE: CUZ) in the sale of Research Park Plaza V to an undisclosed buyer. The four-story, Class A office asset was built in 2015 and is 85% leased to four institutional-quality tenants, including Cadence, a semiconductor company, and Planview, an enterprise software firm.

The 172,854-square-foot building is located in Northwest Austin's Research Park submarket, an area that has historically attracted technology, R&D, and engineering tenants. Cousins Properties is a Sun Belt-focused office REIT with a portfolio concentrated in high-growth markets including Austin, Atlanta, Charlotte, Tampa and Phoenix.

"Research Park Plaza V attracted strong interest from both local and national private capital groups who viewed this as a stabilized asset with very attractive going-in yield," said Stevens.

5th & Walsh Preferred Equity Placement

In the second transaction, JLL Capital Markets' Stevens, Robert Wooten and Colby Mueck worked on behalf of Endeavor Real Estate Group to secure a $31.5 million preferred equity commitment from Cousins Properties for the 5th & Walsh development. The preferred equity is structured above senior construction financing and below common equity, a capitalization approach that has become common in the current lending environment.

5th & Walsh is a five-story, ground-up development totaling 198,000 rentable square feet, comprising approximately 177,000 square feet of Class A office and approximately 21,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. The project is located along the West 5th Street corridor adjacent to the Clarksville neighborhood, at what the firm described as the front door of downtown Austin. It was designed by Lake|Flato, an architecture firm known for sustainable, human-scale projects in Texas and nationally.

The development will serve as the future headquarters of Endeavor Real Estate Group, providing an owner-user anchor for the project. Cousins Properties' preferred equity commitment positions the REIT as a structured capital investor in the development.

"Securing a preferred equity commitment from an investor of Cousins' caliber speaks to the quality of both the project and the sponsor," Stevens said. "5th & Walsh is best-in-class product in an irreplaceable West Austin location, in one of the fastest-growing markets in the country, and that is precisely the profile institutional capital is competing for today."

Cousins Properties' Dual Role

The two transactions position Cousins Properties on both sides of the capital table in Austin simultaneously — as a seller monetizing a stabilized suburban tech-tenanted office asset and as a preferred equity provider in a new urban mixed-use development. Cousins' broader strategy has centered on owning and developing Class A office in high-growth urban submarkets with significant tech, creative, and professional services demand, while selectively recycling capital out of stabilized or non-core assets.

"Research Park Plaza V attracted strong interest from both local and national private capital groups," Stevens noted, reflecting private capital's appetite for stabilized, tech-tenanted suburban office at a yield premium. The preferred equity structure on 5th & Walsh allows Cousins to participate in a premier urban development while maintaining priority over common equity cash flows.

About the Firms

JLL Capital Markets is a global provider of capital solutions for real estate investors and occupiers, with more than 3,000 specialists in offices across nearly 50 countries. JLL (NYSE: JLL) reported annual revenue of $26.1 billion and operates in over 80 countries with a global workforce of more than 112,000 as of June 30, 2026.

Cousins Properties is a publicly traded Sun Belt office REIT focused on Class A assets in growth markets. Endeavor Real Estate Group is an Austin-based real estate developer.

Sources

JLL Newsroom – JLL Completes Two Austin-Area Deals With Cousins Properties