Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT), the firm’s nontraded REIT, recently refinanced a portfolio comprising 59 industrial properties spanning 13 states. This was achieved by securing a $1 billion CMBS loan that was originated late last month.
The syndicate of lenders for this loan includes Goldman Sachs, German American Capital Corp., Barclays Capital Real Estate Inc. and JPMorgan Chase. This is an interest-only, floating-rate loan with an initial term of two years and featuring three additional one-year extension options.
Of the total mortgage amount, a little more than $981 million is allocated to repay BREIT’s existing loan on the portfolio. The remaining funds cover closing costs.
The portfolio itself encompasses 11.6 million square feet space and includes a mix of 13 bulk warehouses, 18 other warehouses, five cold storage facilities, 21 light industrial facilities and a single manufacturing asset. On average, the properties are 33 years old and were acquired by Blackstone’s BREIT between 2018 and 2020.
Geographically, the portfolio is most concentrated in California, which accounts for 2.7 million square feet. It’s followed by significant presences in Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Georgia, each holding at least 1 million square feet. KBRA characterizes the portfolio as being “generally located in well-established infill areas with good access to major area highways.”
According to KBRA, the properties were 96.2% leased as of April to a diverse base of 145 different tenants with 18 of the properties being single tenants. The largest tenants in the portfolio include Stockton Logistics, Penske Logistics, Aberdeen Logistics, HD Supply Facilities Maintenance and KiWiCo.
Earlier this year, BREIT announced several leadership changes: A.J. Agarwal was appointed as co-president and a director of the company in a role he now shares with Robert Harper, who was also designated as co-president. Additionally, Glen Bartley was appointed as chief operating officer. Meanwhile, Brian Kim, who previously served as the company’s head of acquisitions and capital markets, as well as a director, stepped down from that role to assume a new position as the global chief operating officer of Blackstone’s real estate debt strategies business.
