Three members of the Hines organization took part in an afternoon discussion on “Development Opportunities Here at Home and Around the World.” The commercial development, investment and management company, founded in 1957 by Gerald Hines, now has 4,400 employees in 24 countries
“I met Gerald Hines a decade ago, and he made a great impression on our students,” said Charles Bohl, director of the Masters in Real Estate Development + Urbanism (MRED+U) in the School of Architecture. Prior to the conversation, Bohl and a group of UM students presented highlights of the latest Real Estate Research Initiative and invited attendees to download the report at miami.edu/reimpact (click on Research).
To kick off the Hines conversation, Alfonso Munk, chief investment officer, Americas, introduced Jeff Hines, president and CEO, and his daughter Laura Hines-Pierce, senior managing director, Office of the CEO, and asked them outline the company’s growth through the years.
“Dad was a mechanical engineer by trade,” said Jeff Hines. “A neighbor asked him to build a 5,000-square-foot warehouse, and that was the start.” After doing a number of industrial projects in Houston, the Hines organization was asked to take on the Galleria, a high-profile mall in downtown Houston.
“We became known for doing large complex projects and bringing great architecture to office buildings,” said Jeff Hines. In the 1970s and ‘80s, the company’s roster of bank buildings included the Southeast Financial Center in downtown Miami.
Hines-Pierce said her 94-year-old grandfather – who still comes into the office – believes in quality, investing in attractive designs and high-end mechanical systems. “We developed a reputation for integrity in our partnerships,” she added.
Since the 1990s, the Hines organization has been evolved from a U.S. CBD office building developer into an investment manager, bringing its development and property management skill sets to a wider range of product types and locations. “We view real estate as a long term business and can make investments that public firms would have trouble justifying on a quarterly basis,” said Jeff Hines.
Hines-Pierce said the organization has flourished by growing across asset classes, since commercial market cycles move in different ways. “We have recently gotten involved in multifamily property management,” she said. “We are using data to understand what today’s tenants want, and that will drive what we design, develop and buy in the future.”
Sustainability has been a core aspect of Hines since its founding, according to the panelists. ‘Now, we are looking at how we can develop net-zero buildings,” said Hines-Pierce. “After all, our built environment is a big part of the carbon outlay of the world, and we have a responsibility to address that issue.”
One of the overall market trends is that hospitality is pressing into all asset classes, from office and multifamily to industrial, said Hines-Pierce. “Regardless of the product type, employers want to keep their employees engaged and coming to work.” That convergence has led to the growth of mixed-use developments such as Miami WorldCenter in downtown Miami.
Another emerging trend is the ability to capitalize on mining “big data,” added Jeff Hines. “We are just at the beginning of figuring out how to use the vast data in our systems to improve building performance and operations. We also think about how technology is changing the market, from driverless cars to the growth of the remote work sector.”
Asked about opportunity zones, Jeff Hines said he believes the approach is bad public policy. “Anything you do to artificially affect the market forces driving real estate can create issues,” he said. “While we have deals in opportunity zones, that’s not the driving force. Instead, we want to be sure they make sense for us.”
Finally, Hines-Pierce offered a few words of advice for UM students. “Real estate gives you an opportunity to exercise all aspects of your brain,” she said. “It involves design, construction, finance, marketing, sales and legal work – plus you can really have an impact on your community.”
