Scott Trebilco

The world’s largest asset manager has this past year continued to invest in hospitality properties, housing, industrial sites and data centers. But, in Southern California, where Scott Trebilco works, multifamily is its big win.

In April, Blackstone acquired all outstanding shares of multifamily owner Apartment Income REIT, also known as AIR Communities, which is based in Denver but has a major presence in Los Angeles. Blackstone paid $10 billion and took the company private.

It sold off a number of assets that had run their course, too, for better or worse. In March, Blackstone sold about 3 million square feet of industrial space across 48 Southern California properties to Rexford Industrial Realty for $1 billion. The buildings were 93 percent leased at the time of the sale.

In early September, Blackstone announced it had acquired AirTrunk, an Asia Pacific data center platform, for $24 billion which would feed its momentum toward being a leading provider of digital infrastructure in the world.

“Blackstone’s investment activity in 2024 can be characterized by investing before the “all-clear” sign. We believe Blackstone does its best work in periods of dislocation,” Scott Trebilco, told Commercial Observer. “Property values are bottoming and increased debt availability and lower borrowing costs are helping prices recover, supporting greater transaction activity.”

But it wasn’t all good news. Blackstone was declaring a total loss on its 1.4 million-square-foot Playa District office campus, formerly known as the Howard Hughes Center, in Los Angeles, which it bought for $583 million in 2016. Blackstone was in talks with lenders to determine the best use for the property, according to The Real Deal.

Blackstone and Digital Realty announced a $7 billion deal in December 2023 to build data center campuses in Europe and North America, including a 7.5 million-square-foot facility near Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia. —M.H.