The six-story, 54,876-sf building is located on Avenue Charles de Gaulle, which runs from the Arc de Triomphe in Paris to the La Défense business district, where the building is located. The street address is 66-70 Avenue Charles de Gaulle. The building was originally constructed in the 1930s.

Hines officials declined to confirm the purchase price, but did say they plan to renovate the property "to an extremely high standard" and will house Hines offices in an undisclosed portion of the building's 45,200-sf of office space. The only other signed tenant is the French Post Office, which will occupy about 4,600 sf of the 9,600 sf of street-level retail space.

The renovation is slated to begin in May 2006; completion of the project is expected in July 2007. The project represents the second asset purchased by the Hines European Value Added Fund. In August 2005, the fund purchased Salustiano 11, a six-story apartment building in Salamanca, an affluent residential area in Madrid.

HEVAF is capitalized with $370 million of equity commitments provided by German and Swiss institutions. HEVAF is investing primarily in office projects. The geographic focus will be Western European countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.