Hines Pushes Emerging Market Focus With 420,000-SF Office Tower Project

Torre Almirante is slated to break ground in November and will be funded by Hines Emerging Markets Real Estate Fund II. It is one of two funds earmarked by Hines for developments in emerging markets such as China. Poland, Spain and Germany. The funds contain $1 billion in equity.

George Lancaster, Hines' vice president, confirms to GlobeSt.com that all of the emerging markets projects have some sort of American draw. For example, a residential project in Beijing is targeted to American ex-patriots working in China. Torre Almirante will target multi-national, most likely American, companies looking for a prominent downtown address and an international building owner. Lancaster says the emerging markets funds are sizing up another residential project in China and some industrial projects in Mexico.

Hines has hired renowned architect Robert A.M. Stern, dean of the Yale School of Architecture, to design Torre Almirante. Pontual Arquitectura of Brazil will assist Stern in the office tower's design. Street-level retail is being incorporated into the tower, which will be complemented by an attached 420-space parking garage. The garage is to deliver one of the highest parking ratios in the Rio de Janeiro CBD.

Hines is anything but a newcomer to the Brazilian market. It owns the Louveira Distribution Park, a major build-to-suit project, and is wrapping up work on Panamerica Park, a nine-building office park targeting multinational companies, and International Plaza, a mixed-use office, hotel and convention complex in the Sao Paulos financial district.