SAN FRANCISCO, CA – December 26, 2007 – Hines, the international real estate firm, announced today that in partnership with RREEF’s Real Estate Opportunity Fund (REOF), it has acquired Hawthorne Plaza in San Francisco’s South Financial District. The two-building office complex, located at 75 Hawthorne Street and 95 Hawthorne Street, was purchased from TMG Partners and Farallon Capital Management. The San Francisco office of Eastdil Secured represented TMG and Farallon Capital in the sale. Hines will assume property management and leasing responsibilities.
Hawthorne Plaza is comprised of a 20-story Class A office building and a five-story office building containing a total of 441,428 square feet. TMG Partners recently completed several million dollars of capital improvements including a seismic retrofit and exterior skin renovation on these circa 1987 properties. The complex is 82 percent leased with 73 percent of the space occupied by the Federal Government, including the EPA’s Southwest Regional headquarters which leases approximately 260,000 square feet.
“We consider this a quality, well-located asset where Hines can add value through leasing,” said RREEF’s Director of Acquisitions Jon-Paul Momsen. Hines Vice President Cameron Falconer added, “We are confident that we will be able to capitalize on strong underlying market fundamentals as we implement our leasing effort.”
RREEF’s real estate global opportunity fund team has been one of the leaders in pursuing opportunistic investment strategies in the global real estate markets since 1991. The group is responsible for acquiring and managing high-yield, opportunistic real estate investments on behalf of its clients, which include a broad mix of Public Pension Plans, ERISA Plans, endowments, family offices and high-net-worth individuals. The group utilizes opportunistic investment strategies seeking relative value across multiple markets around the world. The team has invested approximately US$4.9 billion of equity in 245 investments in 29 countries, and has assets under management of over US$9 billion as of 30 September 2007. The team comprises over 60 real estate professionals in 13 offices worldwide. RREEF Real Estate acquires and manages investments in commercial and residential property, and real estate securities on behalf of its institutional and private clients worldwide. Its product offering is global and comprehensive, including core, value-enhanced and high yield property investments as well as investments in publicly traded real estate securities. RREEF Real Estate has more than €58.7/US$83.8 billion in assets under management worldwide as of 30 September 2007. RREEF Real Estate is part of RREEF Alternative Investments, the global alternative investment management business of Deutsche Bank’s Asset Management division. RREEF Alternative Investments consists of four businesses: Real Estate, Infrastructure, Private Equity and Hedge Funds. Headquartered in New York, RREEF Alternative Investments employs more than 1,400 investment professionals in 17 cities around the world to help investors meet a wide range of objectives – from diversification, to preservation of capital, to long-term performance. Named the world’s largest alternative investments manager in Global Investor/Watson Wyatt’s Alternative Survey, June 2007, RREEF has €68.2/$97.3 billion in assets under management worldwide as of 30 September 2007.
Hines entered the California market in San Francisco in 1979. Among the firm’s most recognizable development projects there are 101 California, 560 Mission and 580 California. Currently, the firm owns and manages 4.1 million square feet in the city. Hines is a privately owned real estate firm involved in real estate investment, development and property management worldwide. The Hines portfolio of projects underway, completed, acquired and managed for third parties includes more than 1,000 properties representing approximately 416 million square feet of office, residential, mixed-use, industrial, hotel, medical, retail and sports facilities, as well as large, master-planned communities and land developments. With offices in 68 U.S. cities and 15 foreign countries, and controlled assets valued at approximately $19.9 billion, Hines is one of the largest real estate organizations in the world. Visit http://www.hines.com/ for more information.
