Hines Interests LP, which owns one parcel of land in Orange County worth about $12 million, has set a high goal for itself,to own $1 billion worth of buildings in the county within three years.
Houston-based Hines is set to open an office in Irvine this month. It hopes the local operation will be a base for acquisitions in OC and San Diego, where Hines plans to control another $1 billion in investments.
Douglas Holte, senior vice president, is heading the Irvine office. He helped to build up Hines’ holdings in Los Angeles.
Nationally, Hines owns all or part of 800 properties worth more than $11 billion. Its marquee development is Pennzoil Place in Houston, which includes two 36-story, trapezoid-shaped towers.
On its first OC project, Hines is teaming with Fort Worth, Texas-based Crescent Real Estate Equities Co. to develop a 260,000-square-foot office tower at 2211 Michelson Drive. The partners bought the 1.2-acre site in June.
Hines and Crescent are expected to start work on the $90 million tower in January, with completion set for spring 2007, Holte said. The partners are in the process of ordering steel, he said.
For more on this story, please see the Nov. 14 edition of the Business Journal.
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