Deals

Blackstone buys stake in AEW’s industrial park for $250m – Exclusive

AEW Capital sold a 50% interest in its Miami business park, which includes both office and industrial real estate assets, for $250m.

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Blackstone has inked a joint venture with AEW Capital to buy a 50 percent interest in a Miami industrial real estate property for about $250 million, PERE has learned.

PERE understands that capital for Blackstone’s stake for the five-million square foot complex came from the firm’s core-plus platform, Blackstone Property Partners (BPP).

Boston-based AEW had purchased the complex, Flagler Station, in April 2012 from Flagler, the property’s developer and a subsidiary of alternative investment manager Fortress Investment Group, according to an announcement at the time.

AEW paid $340 million for the Class A complex, according to local media reports. The 33-building park comprises both office and industrial real estate and is South Florida’s largest business park, according to AEW. Flagler opened the complex in 2001, with long-term tenants including FedEx and Ryder System.

In 2012, AEW bought the property with capital from AEW Core Property Trust, the firm’s open-ended core real estate fund, according to the firm’s website. A spokesman for the firm could not be reached for comment, and a spokeswoman for New York-based Blackstone declined to comment on the deal.

The open-ended fund Blackstone used to buy the 50 percent stake had $11.9 billion in committed capital and a 15 percent net internal rate of return as of June 30, according to the firm’s second-quarter earnings. California State Teachers’ Retirement System’s $500 million commitment to the fund is one of its largest allocations, according to PERE research.

The deal with AEW is just one in a recent string of purchases for Blackstone. Last month, PERE reported that the firm, which manages $356 billion in assets, was finalizing a $620 million deal to buy Kips Bay Court, an 894-unit New York apartment complex. Capital for that purchase also came from BPP. In August, the firm also purchased Swedish pension fund Alecta’s US assets in a $1.8 billion deal, drawing on capital from BPP, PERE reported.

Alecta’s US portfolio comprised 10 office buildings totaling 1.1 million square feet, six grocery-anchored retail properties, two high-street retail buildings, one mixed-use industrial and office property and three apartment complexes totaling 1,039 units.