Hines has promoted two executives — one with a background in timber buildings and another in running offices from Brazil to Canada — to lead the developer's growth in Canada, South America and two regions of the United States as it heads into an uncertain year for real estate and the broader economy.
At the start of the new year, Steve Luthman took over as CEO of the U.S. Midwest and Southeast regions and Canada, and Syl Apps was elevated to CEO for South America, the Houston-based company said. Apps also will continue to lead the investment business in Canada.
Their goals include expanding to new cities, hiring a more diverse workforce and using billions of dollars available in Hines funds to find deals on existing properties and prime development sites to prepare for the next boom, they told CoStar News.
Luthman and Apps are taking on new roles months into an economic slowdown stemming from rising interest rates and worries of a recession, which have caused many property sales to be called off or priced down.
“We think that repricing will create great opportunities for investments,” Luthman said. “We’re heading into this cycle point with about $3 billion of dry powder to invest in North America. That creates tremendous opportunities.”
Apps and Luthman will take over the responsibilities previously held by Kevin Shannahan, who had been CEO for those four regions before retiring at the end of 2022. Based in Chicago, Shannahan launched Hines’ operations in South America in 1998 and in Canada in 2004.
Luthman is based in Hines’ Chicago office and Apps is based in Toronto. Both previously held the title of senior managing director at Hines.
They will oversee all aspects of Hines’ business in those areas, working together on deals in Canada.
Hines has $5.7 billion in assets under management in the Midwest, $3.1 billion in the Southeast, $3.9 billion Canadian dollars north of the border and 11.7 billion real in Brazil.
Background in Timber Buildings
Luthman joined Hines in 2005, and he has led the firm’s T3 initiative — 26 mass timber office buildings built, under construction and in advanced planning throughout the world, starting with completed projects in Minneapolis and Atlanta.
He also has helped raised funds and worked on major developments including the 300 N. LaSalle St. and River Point office towers and 1225 Old Town — Hines’ first multifamily development globally in about three decades — in Chicago.
Luthman also has been involved in the multibuilding Atlantic Yards and Avalon office projects in and around Atlanta, the mixed-use Reed District and The Finery developments in Nashville, Tennessee, and the two-tower CIBC Square office project in Toronto.
One goal in his new role is to hire employees from different backgrounds, he said.
“As an industry, we need to get much more diverse,” Luthman said. “We need to create career paths for people with different backgrounds. Hiring, training and mentoring great people is everything to Hines and it’s everything to me.”
During the current economic uncertainty, Luthman said he’ll also focus on good long-term investments such as Hines’ deals for a loft office building on Chicago’s Goose Island, the Bradley Business Center on the city’s North Side, the Gables Station with 495 Life Time Living residences in Coral Gables, Florida, and the Whole Foods-anchored Waverly Place shopping center in Cary, North Carolina.
Hines also looks to tie up development sites “so we’re positioned to be first movers when the time is right,” Luthman said.
Apps joined Hines in 2015, helping to raise funds, build the business in Brazil and open an office in Vancouver, Canada, less than two years ago.
“That office in Vancouver is important for us strategically as we continue to grow across the country,” Apps said.
Apps’ projects include the 1.7 million-square-foot mixed-use Kibon development underway in Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest city.
He calls continued investments in Brazil “a counter-cyclical opportunity,” since the country has not been as hard-hit by inflation as most parts of the world.
Apps said Hines also wants to expand into other South American countries. Two likely areas of focus are Chile and Colombia, where some of the firm's existing investors are based.