Blackstone, LBA Logistics Recap $1.6B in Industrial Assets

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Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust Inc. and LBA Logistics, of Irvine, Calif., have recapitalized two industrial portfolios owned by LBA and totaling $1.6 billion of gross value.

Blackstone REIT acquired an approximately 60 percent combined interest across the two portfolios, and LBA’s investment fund and its investors retained the balance.

The portfolios consist of 71 high-quality assets totaling 9.5 million square feet and are about 95 percent occupied overall. The properties are predominantly in last-mile locations in West Coast markets, the vast majority being in California and Seattle.

Brian Kim, Blackstone REIT’s head of Acquisitions & Capital Markets, said in a prepared statement that logistics “is one of our highest conviction investment themes globally, and this acquisition illustrates BREIT’s continued momentum executing on exciting opportunities with significant growth potential.”

Phil Belling, an LBA managing partner, added: “These assets are benefitting from the strong fundamentals in the industrial sector, which we believe will continue to be attractive over the long-term.”

After this transaction closes, more than 90 percent of Blackstone REIT’s real estate investments will be in multifamily, industrial and net-leased assets, with industrial representing more than 35 percent of the portfolio.

Eastdil Secured served as an advisor to LBA Logistics. Blackstone REIT was advised by Simpson Thacher; that team included real estate partners Sas Mehrara, Whitney Salinas and Danielle Jackson and tax partner Nancy Mehlman.

Steadily active

Last June, LBA bought Sand Lake Commerce Center, a two-building, 230,117-square-foot Class A industrial asset near Orlando International Airport. The deal fetched $26.4 million for the developer/seller, McDonald Development Co.

And in December, LBA and partner RXR Realty received $316 million in construction financing for Grand Logistics Center, in the Maspeth neighborhood of Queens, N.Y., from JP Morgan Chase. The 1.1-million-square-foot, multi-story property is scheduled for completion in December 2022 and is already fully leased to Amazon.