Signature · Developer · Houston
Hines
The American house that raised the Houston skyline and became one of the world's largest real estate managers and developers — with a São Paulo office since 1998.
Who it is
Hines is a privately held American company that invests in, develops and manages real estate. It was founded in Houston, Texas, in 1957, by Gerald D. Hines — a mechanical engineer by training, who started the business as a sideline to an engineering partnership. Between 1957 and 1967 the house developed around 69 office and warehouse buildings; the turning point came when Shell Oil hired it to build its new headquarters in downtown Houston, the One Shell Plaza, delivered in 1971. The Galleria, Pennzoil Place, Williams Tower and the Texas Commerce Tower — today the JPMorgan Chase Tower, the tallest building in Texas — followed.
What sets Hines apart from ordinary developers is its bond with signature architecture: the portfolio was built with designs by I. M. Pei, Cesar Pelli, Frank Gehry and Robert A. M. Stern, and the founder became known in the trade as the “Medici of architects”. The house is also a pioneer in environmental performance — it developed its own indoor air quality standards in the 1990s that went on to influence later EPA rules, took part in drafting the LEED standards in 2006, and built T3, the first large-scale modern timber corporate building in the United States.
International expansion began in Europe in 1989. The company has been led since 1990 by Jeffrey Hines, the founder’s son — who died in 2020, at age 95 — and, since 2022, in co-leadership with Laura Hines-Pierce, the founder’s granddaughter. It is present in dozens of countries, has tens of billions of dollars in assets under management, and moved its headquarters, in 2021, to Texas Tower, in Houston.
In Brazil, Hines opened an office in São Paulo in 1998. In the collection, it appears as the developer of VN Millennium Faria Lima, in Vila Olímpia, with development by Vitacon.
Product vision
- Positioning: development and management of real estate assets at global scale, from corporate to residential, operating both with its own capital and through funds and trusts with institutional investors.
- Differentiators: signature architecture as part of the investment thesis, internationally recognised construction and building-operation standards, and a long track record in sustainability — including a role in shaping industry standards.
Developments
- One Shell Plaza, The Galleria, Pennzoil Place, Williams Tower and the JPMorgan Chase Tower — Houston.
- Texas Tower, Houston — the company’s current headquarters.
- CityCenterDC, Washington, D.C.
- CIBC Square, Toronto.
- Salesforce Tower, Chicago.
- VN Millennium Faria Lima, in Vila Olímpia, São Paulo — developer, with development by Vitacon and architecture by Athié Wohnrath with Arquitectonica.
Signatures in the portfolio
No development in the collection carries this signature yet — it is here for the weight of the name in São Paulo's high end.
