PRESS RELEASES

Hines Named "1998 Office Developer Of The Year" For The Consecutive Year By National Real Estate Investor Magazine

4/15/1999

HOUSTON, TEXAS - Hines, the international real estate firm, announced today that it has been chosen as "1998 Office Developer of the Year" by the National Real Estate Investor (NREI) magazine. This is the second consecutive year that Hines has received this honor. The magazine received questionnaires from a multitude of real estate companies throughout the United States, and from the 60 leading entries, Hines was ranked as #1.

The basis on which the magazine ranks real estate companies is by the number of square feet the company had under development during the calendar year. In 1998, Hines reported it had 18,276,000 square feet under development, doubling its 1997 total and outpacing NREI's next leading developer on the 1998 list by more than seven million square feet.

"We are pleased to have been ranked as #1 by this well-known real estate publication," said Hines President Jeffrey C. Hines. "1998 was a extremely busy year for us, and we anticipate a steady increase in development activity in the coming year, both in the U.S. and internationally."

Hines reported their development surge is only beginning. Hines' affiliate, Hines Corporate Properties (HCP), is capitalized with $500 million, including $280 million of equity provided by a major U.S. pension fund and Hines. HCP's purpose is to purchase prime development sites and work with corporate tenants to customize facilities to their needs. Hines has also created the Hines U.S. Office Development Fund, a fund that has $320 million of equity to develop approximately $800 million of suburban core office buildings around the United States.

In July 1998, Hines and the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) formed National Office Partners to maximize the value of a portion of CalPERS´ existing office portfolio as well as to add new investments to the portfolio through acquisition and development. To date, the National Office Partners portfolio totals 6.9 million square feet in 26 buildings across the United States, totaling over $1.2 billion in value.

In line with Hines' international expansion, in 1996 the firm formed the Emerging Markets Fund I, a $410 million fund, with The Trust Company of the West Group, Inc. (TCW), and Dean Witter Realty Inc. The purpose of the fund is to manage the acquisition, development, operation and disposition of high-quality office, residential, mixed-use and other real estate in selected emerging market countries. Projects funded by the Emerging Markets Fund will primarily service multinational and expatriate tenants. To date, the fund has provided financing for real estate projects in Mexico, Poland, Russia and China. In February of this year, Hines and TCW closed on the Emerging Markets Fund II, a second fund in the amount of $436 million.

Hines is a privately owned firm with 2,800 employees involved in developing, managing and acquiring real estate as well as providing a wide range of advisory services. Based in Houston, Texas, Hines controls a real estate portfolio that includes more than 600 properties representing more than 188 million square feet of office, mixed-use, industrial, retail and residential properties as well as large master-planned communities and land developments. Hines' real estate portfolio is valued in excess of nine billion dollars.