Hines Elevate

Hines is a privately held American real estate investment, development and property management firm, founded in Houston in 1957 by Gerald D. Hines. It operates in 30 countries and, as of 31 December 2025, owned and operated roughly $91.7 billion of assets with about 4,600 employees. In India, Hines has partnered with Conscient Infrastructure on the residential brand Elevate — first at Sector 59 on Gurugram's Golf Course Extension Road, and now on the former Birla Cotton Mills land at Kamla Nagar in North Delhi.

Quick Facts

A firm measured in cities, not projects

The number that describes Hines best is not the assets figure. It is 2,068 — the count of properties the firm has developed, redeveloped or acquired since 1957, totalling more than 732 million square feet. The current management portfolio runs to 837 properties and about 299 million square feet, and 151 developments are underway.

The geography is genuinely wide. Hines has offices in Houston, São Paulo, Toronto, Beijing, Paris, Berlin, Athens, Gurugram, Dublin, Milan, Tokyo, Luxembourg, Mexico City, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Panama City, Warsaw, Madrid, Seoul and London, with a representative office in the Dubai International Financial Centre. Amit Diwan, who runs the India business, is also the firm's Head of Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

The buildings that made the name

Williams Tower, Houston (1983). Designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee and completed by Hines as Transco Tower, the 64-storey tower stands beside The Galleria — also a Hines development. Its silver-grey glass and setback crown are still among the most recognisable objects on the Houston skyline, and the Gerald D. Hines Waterwall Park at its base became a city park.

Salesforce Tower, San Francisco (2018). Co-developed with Boston Properties and designed by César Pelli, the 61-storey, 1.4 million sq ft obelisk rises to 1,070 feet at its crown — more than 200 feet above the Transamerica Pyramid — and is the tallest building in San Francisco. It anchors a 145-acre district that includes a 5.4-acre public rooftop park above the Transbay Transit Center. Hines sold its interest in 2019.

53 West 53, New York (2019). Developed with Pontiac Land Group next to the Museum of Modern Art, Jean Nouvel's 1,050-foot tower carries 77 storeys behind an exposed concrete diagrid. It remains among the twelve tallest buildings in New York City.

Torre Velasca, Milan (2025). This one is worth dwelling on, because it is the closest thing in the Hines portfolio to what Kamla Nagar is attempting. Torre Velasca is a 106-metre, 27-storey tower completed in 1958 by the BBPR collective, protected by Italy's Superintendency of Fine Arts since 2011, and by 2020 in poor condition. Hines acquired it and ran a multi-year conservation-led restoration with Asti Architetti: the clinker brick façade was laser-cleaned and repaired by hand, windows were returned to BBPR's original specifications, and the mechanical core was rebuilt to LEED Gold and WiredScore Gold standard. The car-choked plaza at its foot became a public square with olive and magnolia trees.

Restoring a protected mid-century landmark is a different discipline from building a tower on empty ground. That the same firm is now working on a site with a century of Delhi industrial history behind it is not a coincidence.

Hines in India

Hines entered India through Gurugram offices. One Horizon Center on Golf Course Road, developed with DLF and designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects, completed in 2014 as the firm's first Indian project; it now houses Oracle, Apple, American Express, Samsung and Coca-Cola, among others, and remains the address of the Hines India office. Skyview Corporate Park, developed with Shyam Telecom on a 21-acre site facing NH-8, was planned at 1.87 million sq ft and earned IGBC LEED India Platinum certification in 2015.

Since then: a 33 per cent stake in DLF's Atrium Place in Gurugram, a four-building commercial complex; an entry into Bengaluru offices with the DNR Group at Yeshwantpur; and a 2024 joint venture with Pioneer Urban for a 1.25 million sq ft office development on Golf Course Extension Road, reported at a project cost of about ₹1,500 crore.

The residential line came later, and Hines named the three projects rather than numbering them: Alpha in Mumbai, Altitude in Bengaluru, and Elevate in Gurugram.

Conscient, and what Elevate means

Conscient Infrastructure grew out of BCC Infrastructure and has been building since 1975. The Gurugram-based developer has completed over 12 million square feet of residential, commercial and institutional space and more than 12,000 homes across Delhi NCR, Dehradun and Goa.

Elevate, Sector 59, Gurugram is the first Hines–Conscient project under the name and is now a completed, ready-to-move development on Golf Course Extension Road. It was designed by the Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill — one of the few Bofill residential schemes in India — around a European-style social club with a double-height lounge, an all-weather resort pool and a temperature-controlled lap pool, stone-clad arcades linking the towers, and a naturally lit basement with cut-outs for daylight and ventilation. The project is GRIHA pre-certified. Total investment was reported at approximately ₹1,500 crore.

So Elevate is not a marketing coinage invented for Delhi. It is an existing, delivered Hines–Conscient product with a Bofill building already standing behind it.

Kamla Nagar

In early 2025, Hines announced its first Delhi residential investment: a residential-led mixed-use development on the Birla Cotton Mills site in Kamla Nagar, in partnership with Conscient, Texmaco Infrastructure & Holdings, and HDFC Capital. The Adventz Group, Texmaco's parent, has held the land for more than a century. HDFC Capital manages four funds totalling $4.2 billion; this is its first joint investment with Hines. Indian press reported the project cost at approximately ₹4,000 crore.

The published scope is about 3 million square feet across roughly 10 acres, combining residences with Grade A retail. Current planning is for high-rise residential towers of approximately 52 storeys, a clubhouse, and a landscaped commercial frontage. A Delhi Metro Phase 4 station is planned close to the site, and the development adjoins a large DDA park.

Amit Diwan framed the intent plainly at announcement: the project is meant to address a shortage of modern residential stock, and a shortage of Grade A retail, in one of Delhi's most established neighbourhoods.

Kamla Nagar has not seen a development of this scale before. Whether that is enough is a question for the RERA filing, not for a blog post.

FAQ

Who is Hines? Hines is a global real estate investment, development and property manager founded in Houston in 1957. It works in 30 countries and owned and operated approximately $91.7 billion of assets as of 31 December 2025.

In which countries does Hines operate? Thirty, including the United States, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Panama, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Greece, Poland, Luxembourg, China, Japan, South Korea, India and the UAE.

What are Hines' best-known buildings? Williams Tower and The Galleria in Houston, Salesforce Tower in San Francisco, 53 West 53 next to MoMA in New York, and the restored Torre Velasca in Milan.

What has Hines built in India? One Horizon Center and Skyview Corporate Park in Gurugram, a stake in DLF's Atrium Place, a Bengaluru office project with DNR Group, an office development with Pioneer Urban, and residential projects under the Alpha, Altitude and Elevate names.

Is Conscient Hines Elevate in Gurugram the same as the Kamla Nagar project? No. Elevate at Sector 59, Gurugram is a completed Hines–Conscient residential development. The Kamla Nagar development is a separate project on the former Birla Cotton Mills site in North Delhi, with Texmaco and HDFC Capital as additional partners.

What is the current status of the Kamla Nagar project? The registration application with the Delhi Real Estate Regulatory Authority is in process. No booking, allotment, sale or invitation to purchase is being made until the registration number is issued.