Lisa Newton,
Hines
Lisa Newton has helped grow and scale the U.S. multifamily business at Hines, a privately owned global real estate investment, development, and management firm with a presence in 314 cities in 30 countries. The firm manages a $96 billion portfolio of high-performing assets across residential, office, retail, industrial, and mixed-use strategies worldwide.
Recognizing the cyclical nature of commercial real estate—when office is down, multifamily might be up, and vice versa—Hines started developing a strong pipeline in 2012 for multifamily assets in the U.S. With decades of strategic leadership and multifamily operational expertise, Newton joined the team in 2014.
“I spent the first several years in a subject matter expert role, working to bring all the excellent products and services Hines had developed into multifamily,” says Newton, senior vice president of multifamily operations.
When the firm decided to bring its multifamily assets in house, Newton was instrumental in the launch of Willowick Residential as Hines’ property management division. The division is named after founder Gerald D. Hines’ first multifamily building in Houston’s River Oaks neighborhood—The Willowick.
Today, Newton says Hines has 39 developments with 11,700 units under management in the U.S. and Canada. “We will grow with just the development pipeline,” she says. “We will get in the 18,000- to 20,000-unit range by 2024-2025, as long as developments aren’t delayed.”
She adds that the new development pipeline for residential is three times the pipeline of its office projects—18 million square feet of living product compared with 6 million square feet of office.
Hines also recently ventured into its first third-party management deal on the East Coast.
“It’s been development, acquisitions, and the property management arm growing,” she says. “Now, we may see some growth in our third-party fee business.”
Newton, who is on the firm’s Management Services Committee, appreciates Hines’ ability to work with different product types.
“We really are leveraging decades of experience and relationships wacross Hines’ different resources and departments,” she says.
One example she cites is a new mixed-use development, Fenton, in Cary, North Carolina, that Hines is managing. The firm partnered with Columbia Development and USAA Real Estate on the 92-acre project, which at buildout will feature over 2.5 million square feet of multifamily, retail, office, restaurant, and hotel.
The initial phase opened a year ago and comprises 250,000 square feet of specialty and experiential retail, including a high-end movie theater; the 357-unit Allison at Fenton multifamily community; and 195,000 square feet of Class A office space.
