Scott Trebilco, Joseph Finnigan and Matt Chapman

Scott Trebilco characterizes the past year in L.A. as a continued transition of the market from the recovery phase to opportunity. 

“In the last year, we’ve seen much better alignment between buyers and sellers, financing markets have returned and are functioning really strongly, and capital has been starting to move again,” Trebilco said. “The biggest differentiation is investors shifting from playing defense to playing offense, and we’ve also continued to do that.” 

Blackstone continues to lean into sectors where the firm believes long-term drivers are durable, including digital infrastructure, logistics, housing, necessity-based retail and travel-related real estate. One such transaction was the firm’s March 2026 take-private of Hawaii-based grocery-anchored retail platform Alexander & Baldwin, alongside partners MW Group and DivcoWest. “It represented a continuation of our broader conviction around necessity-based retail and grocery-anchored shopping centers,” Trebilco said.  

The deal followed Blackstone’s $4 billion take-private of Retail Opportunity Investment Corporation, and was “another opportunity for us to increase our exposure to a sector where we have really, really strong conviction,” Trebilco said. 

Trebilco said that while L.A. is a market that’s been transitioning in recent years, it’s “one of the most dynamic and resilient markets in the world,” and some of the complexities in navigating its entitlement process create opportunities over the medium term. 

Blackstone subsidiary Link Logistics is also making plenty of splashy headlines in Southern California, with executives Joe Finnigan, who scaled the firm’s Link Parks division, and Matt Chapman, who runs West Coast investment activity, leading the way. In June, the company sold a $1.8 billion, 19-property light industrial portfolio in Southern California to BKM Capital Partners and Kayne Anderson Real Estate.

In the lead-up to Blackstone forming Link Logistics in 2019, Finnigan was part of four transactions totaling $33 billion, which established the firm as one of North America’s largest industrial real estate owners.