Wells REIT Acquires Class-A Building in Irvine, Calif.

ATLANTA, Sept. 18 -- Wells Real Estate Investment Trust, Inc. (Wells REIT) has acquired a 172,000-square-foot, Class-A office building in Irvine, California, near Los Angeles, for $45.5 million.

The eight-story property, built in 2002, is 100% leased to five major tenants. Aon Corporation, GE Capital, and Salomon Smith Barney occupy 52% of the building. These tenants hold credit ratings of A-/Baa2, AA-/Aa3, and AAA/Aaa, respectively, from Standard & Poor's and Moody's. All the tenants are on long-term leases.

The remaining 48% of the building is leased to BNC Mortgage, Inc., as its corporate headquarters (74,000 square feet) and Alliance Bank (8,000 square feet). Founded in 1995, BNC is one of the largest specialty finance companies in the nation and has funded more than $10 billion of home loans since its inception. BNC is engaged in the business of originating, purchasing, and selling, on a whole-loan basis for cash, non-conforming residential mortgage loans secured by one- to four-family residences. Alliance Bank, a California- chartered bank, was founded in 1980 to serve executives, professionals, and small- to medium-sized businesses in southern California. The bank is one of California's top syndicators of construction loans, one of the top 12% of southern California SBA lenders, and one of the region's fastest-growing business banks.

"This acquisition is the third in southern California since we announced our $500 million goal for the region," said Wells Chief Investment Officer David Steinwedell. "Great properties like this with long-term, creditworthy tenants in place help to meet our high expectations to serve the needs of our long-term investors. We continue to search for other suburban and CBD assets in the region."

The building, known as 1901 Main Street in Irvine, is located in the City of Irvine, Orange County, California, at the northeast corner of Main Street and MacArthur Boulevard, less than one-half mile from John Wayne Airport. The property has excellent access to the San Diego Freeway (I-405), the Costa Mesa Freeway (55), and the San Joaquin Hills (73) transportation corridor.

Wells Real Estate Funds is an Atlanta-based national real estate investment management firm that purchases existing Class-A office and industrial properties, as well as corporate sale/leasebacks and build-to-suit projects, leased long term to creditworthy tenants and professional services firms. In 2002, Wells Real Estate Funds was the largest purchaser of Class-A office buildings in the United States according to New York-based Real Capital Analytics, completing 30 transactions totaling more than $1.4 billion. Wells is targeting 2003 acquisitions of $2.5 billion.

In its investment products -- the Wells REIT, the Wells S&P REIT Index Fund, and the Wells limited partnerships -- Wells manages more than $3.5 billion in assets for more than 125,000 investors nationwide.

For more information regarding acquisitions, please contact David Steinwedell, Chief Investment Officer, at 800-448-1010. Wells is online at www.wellsref.com .

This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including discussions regarding Wells' use of proceeds and certain other factors that may affect future earnings or financial results. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to vary materially from those expressed in or indicated by the forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause actual results to differ materially include changes in general economic conditions, changes in real estate conditions, construction delays, increases in interest rates, lease-up risks, lack of availability of financing, and lack of availability of capital proceeds. This is neither an offer nor a solicitation to purchase securities. Such an offer can only be made by prospectus. To obtain a prospectus, please call Wells Real Estate Funds at 800-448-1010. Please read the prospectus carefully before investing.