Hines SOV Adds 528,000 SF for $45M

KANSAS CITY, MO-A two building, 528,000-sf office development here has changed hands for about $45 million. The new owner is Hines Suburban Office Venture, a partnership between Chicago-based Hines and GE Real Estate of Stamford, CT. The seller is a partnership of San Francisco-based Shorenstein Co. LLC and IBM of Armonk, NY.Shorenstein developed the 28-story office tower and the four-story satellite building in 1975. The buildings are located at 2345 Grand, within Crown Center, the world headquarters for Hallmark Cards. The buildings are 84% leased.This is the third acquisition by Hines Suburban Office Venture, which seeks to create value through the acquisition and intensive management of US office properties. HSOV’s first acquisition was the Manhattan Towers in Manhattan Beach, CA, which they leased up and sold on April 2. The second was Ashford Perimeter in Atlanta, which the partnership acquired in the summer of 2003.”We felt that (2345 Grand) was a strong fit for our investment strategy,” says Stephen Hoover, GE Real Estate’s managing director for Commercial Strategic Ventures. Hines VP Kurt Hatmann says the property “will be an excellent opportunity for the venture to add value.” Hines plans to make it happen through a renovation of the property’s 60,000-sf plaza, an upgrade of the main-building lobby and an aggressive leasing campaign. Hines entered the Kansas City market in 1999 as the development manager for Science City at Union Station. The firm’s presence in Kansas City recently expanded with its assignment as development manager for the new 500,000-sf H&R Block World Headquarters and its selection by the Port Authority as developer for a 55-acre mixed-use riverfront project.