Laura Hines-Pierce temporarily resigns from income trust’s board

Laura Hines-Pierce, co-CEO of Hines, has voluntarily and temporarily resigned from the board of Hines Global Income Trust. She will continue serving as co-CEO of Hines alongside her father, Jeffrey Hines.

Hines Global Income Trust, which operates as an investment trust sponsored by Hines, announced her departure effective Dec. 31, according to an SEC filing. The move is to maintain compliance with the company’s business charter following the resignation of former board member Humberto Cabañas in November.

Cabañas departed for undisclosed reasons and left a dilemma for the investment trust. Its charter mandates that a majority of the board must be composed of independent directors, except for 60 days following the death, removal or resignation of a member. Cabañas’ exit left the board without the required majority on its seven-member board, resulting in Hines-Pierce’s resignation.

The board has moved to reduce its size from seven members to five to remain in compliance with the charter. According to the filing, the board plans to reappoint Hines-Pierce upon identifying a replacement independent director for Cabañas, and it will re-expand to seven members upon the replacement’s appointment.

Hines Global Income Trust has a portfolio worth $3.9 billion.

It was founded in 2014 and focuses on investing in commercial properties across the nation. The investment trust paid $145 million for a Houston office building, called 200 Park Place, at 4200 Westheimer Road, in July 2022. The 15-story, 207,000-square-foot building, acquired from Dallas-based developer Stonelake Capital Partners, cost about $700 per square foot.

The trust acquired the 774,000-square-foot IBM 500 Campus in Durham, North Carolina last month.

Hines was busy in the last quarter of 2023.

The Houston-based developer acquired two warehouses in the Chicago area for an estimated $87 million. Hines also secured a $220 million construction loan to build the first phase of a mixed-use project in Fort Lauderdale, via a joint venture with Urban Street Development. Hines has more than 388 million square feet of commercial space globally, according to its website.