Real estate company Hines has raised $650 million for a new fund focused on buying properties within the US.

Among the real estate 'Hines U.S. Property Partners' are targeting are data centers, the company said.

In addition to multifamily, industrial, and other property types, “we also like niche sectors such as life sciences, data centers, and self-storage,” fund manager Adriana de Alcantara told Bloomberg, pointing towards their success during the pandemic.

The company plans to start with the $100m purchase of a multifamily property in Austin, Texas. Hines manages its properties, bringing in additional revenue, a task many property companies outsource.

Hines has not historically been a huge player in the data center market, but served as development manager for EdgeX Data Center in Oklahoma, and the Americas Data Center in New Jersey, amongst others.

The company's real estate investment trust, Hines Global REIT, made more than $110m on the purchase and sale of the Komo Plaza in Seattle - a key regional carrier hotel and data center facility.