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Eighth Avenue Place Earns LEED^® Platinum Pre-Certification

First Tenant Moves into Building

(CALGARY, ALBERTA) – Hines on behalf of the Owners of Eighth Avenue Place, Alberta Investment Management Corp., Matco Investments Ltd. and SITQ, announced today that the 49-story, 1,100,000-square-foot office tower has been awarded a LEED Platinum pre-certification and is slated to become Canada's first and North America's second LEED Platinum high-rise office building. While the project was originally pre-certified Gold in the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED for Core & Shell rating system, it has been pre-certified for the second time at the Platinum level as a result of a series of groundbreaking building innovations.

One of the most remarkable features is the air distribution system, a building component that is typically responsible for a significant portion of annual energy expenses in buildings in northern climates. Eighth Avenue Place is the first building in Canada to utilize heating distribution techniques that decrease construction costs and operating costs while improving thermal comfort for occupants. Introduced by Hines in 1977 and adopted as an industry standard in most parts of the United States, the system distributes heat through the same overhead perimeter air delivery system that is utilized in cooling during the summer months. More traditional radiant heating systems in Canada pipe hot water into occupant spaces along base boards at the perimeter wall. The high performance glazing systems at Eighth Avenue Place that mitigate cold surface temperatures, allowed for the elimination of baseboard radiator systems in the tower. These systems take up more usable space and are less effective at regulating ambient office temperatures.

Other sustainable features and programs include:

• Installation of a state-of-the-art building management and control system to monitor and manage energy consumption and tenant comfort requests
• Reliance on outside air (at certain temperatures) to cool the building
• 40 percent reduction in water use through features such as ultra-low-flow urinals
• Provision of enclosed 300-stall bicycle parking with adjacent showers
• 50 percent landfill diversion of construction waste including that from the demolition of the previous buildings
• Use of low-emitting paints, adhesives and sealants
• Use of environmentally sensitive refrigerants
• Canada's largest green roof encompassing 30,000 square feet

Designed by the internationally recognized architectural firm of Pickard Chilton, Eighth Avenue Place consists of a 49-story tower, a two-story retail podium spanning a full city block and featuring a dramatic atrium winter garden, a 1,143-car, below-grade parking garage and a 40-story future west tower. Construction began in December 2007 and will be completed the summer of 2011.

Hines Vice President Avi Tesciuba said, "Calgary is Canada's energy capital and energy companies place particular emphasis on sustainability and responsible energy consumption. The emphasis on sustainability and responsible stewardship of energy consumption and the resonance of these issues in the Calgary market motivated the project's Owners to raise the bar to a level never achieved before in a large commercial setting in Canada."

Hines has overseen all development activities on behalf of the Owners, and was recently selected as the Property Manager of Eighth Avenue Place, thanks, in part, to the firm's extensive track record in sustainability and managing utility expenses. As a six-time ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year, Hines' portfolio of labeled properties in the U.S. is 35 percent more energy efficient and saves $1.20 per square foot per year when compared to the average U.S. office building. The firm's corollary experience in the LEED green building rating system, with 202 projects, representing more than 107 million square feet under the various LEED® rating systems, played a key role in the ability of Eighth Avenue Place to achieve the highest level of LEED pre-certification.

20 VIC Management Inc.'s Director of Leasing, Loy Sullivan, reported that 780,000 square feet (or 75 percent) of the building's leasable space, has now been leased. Direct Energy Marketing Limited officially moved into its new 70,000-square-foot space last month, and Bonavista Petroleum Ltd. is expected to take occupancy of its 95,000-square-foot space in early January 2011.