MIAMI—Locally-based Swire Properties Inc. reports it has appointed Gonzalo Cortabarría senior vice president. The former Hines Interest executive will oversee leasing and operations for the $1.05-billion Brickell City Centre mixed-use development.

A former managing director with Houston-based Hines Interests LP, Cortabarría has more than 17 years of operational and management experience. Prior to joining Swire, Cortabarría was responsible for development and asset management for Hines in South Florida. He also played a key role in the opening of Hines' offices in Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires.

“As one of the largest mixed-use developments in the country, Brickell City Centre required an individual with a work history steeped in the multiple facets of development,” says Stephen Owens, president of Swire Properties. “Gonzalo's many years of overseeing and successfully managing large projects fits perfectly with the needs of this historic development for Miami.”

Originally from Montevideo, Uruguay,  Cortabarría has an undergraduate degree in architecture, an MBA and a Masters in Real Estate from MIT.

Swire signed Saks Fifth Avenue as the anchor tenant of the shopping center at Brickell City Centre last year. Both condominium towers Reach and Rise have topped out, with Reach close to fully sold. The $20-million CLIMATE RIBBON is being assembled and Swire's first hotel in the United States—EAST—is slated to open this year.

Brickell City Centre at full build-out will feature a gross floor area of 5.4-million gross square feet, including an underground car park and 2.9-million square feet of office, residential, hotel, retail and entertainment space.