PRESS RELEASES

Hines Sells Interest in Two Boston Landmark Buildings to Equity Office Properties LP

9/17/08

(BOSTON, MA) – The Boston office of Hines, the international real estate firm, announced today that it has sold its minority interests in two of its landmark office buildings?Two Twenty Two Berkeley and Five Hundred Boylston?to its partner, Equity Office Properties, which is owned by the Blackstone Group. Terms of the sale were not disclosed. Hines will continue in its role as property manager for both of the Back Bay trophy buildings.  

“We are pleased to now have full ownership of two of the finest office buildings in Boston,” said Greg Shay, president of the Boston region for Equity Office. “We continue to seek attractive investment opportunities here in the Boston market, both in the repositioning of our currently owned properties as well as new acquisitions.”

Developed by Hines, designed by architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee, and opened in 1988, Five Hundred Boylston is a 25-story, 710,000-square-foot, mixed-use project with more than 65,000 square feet of exclusive retail space. The property is currently 95 percent leased. The building’s distinctive rose granite surfaces, soaring entrance colonnade and barrel-vault roofline are well-known to both Bostonians and television audiences as the headquarters of the fictitious law firm portrayed in Boston Legal. In reality, major tenants are MFS Investment Management and Houghton Mifflin Company.

Two Twenty Two Berkeley was developed by Hines, designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects and completed in 1991. The 22-story, 520,000-square-foot office building has more than 44,000 square feet of retail space, is clad in classical red brick and stone and features a five-level, glass-enclosed Winter Garden at its center. The property is 97 percent leased and is anchored by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Two Twenty Two Berkeley is connected to Five Hundred Boylston and the two properties share a 1,000-space parking garage. Both properties have received numerous awards from the Building Owners and Managers Association and ENERGY STAR® labels from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“We have been involved with these buildings and their tenants for almost a quarter of a century, so we are delighted to stay on as manager for Equity Office,” said Hines Senior Vice President David Perry. “We are also excited to further expand our footprint in Boston by redeploying capital into new, quality projects.”

Hines is developing two new projects for Boston: South Station and Greenway Center. The firm’s development at South Station includes a Cesar Pelli-designed, one million-square-foot landmark office tower. Later phases of the project include more office space, residential condominiums and a hotel. Greenway Center will be a 350,000-square-foot, 10-story “jewel box” office and retail property located at the north end of Rose Kennedy Greenway. Both projects will be high-performance, LEED-certified “green” buildings. Hines also owns and manages Wellesley Gateway, the headquarters of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care.

Equity Office owns and manages approximately 11 million square feet in downtown Boston including signature properties such as Rowes Wharf, 100 Summer Street and 28 State Street. Equity Office is owner and operator of primarily Class A office buildings in multiple markets across the country.  The company is an affiliate of The Blackstone Group, a premier global private equity firm.

Hines is a privately owned real estate firm involved in real estate investment, development and property management worldwide. The firm’s historical and current portfolio of projects that are underway, completed, acquired and managed for third parties includes more than 1,000 properties representing approximately 435 million square feet of office, residential, mixed-use, industrial, hotel, medical and sports facilities, as well as large, master-planned communities and land developments. With offices in more than 100 cities in 16 countries, and controlled assets valued at approximately $22.9 billion, Hines is one of the largest real estate organizations in the world. Visit www.hines.com for more information.