Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust named Robert Harper as interim CEO after the investment firm’s former head was killed in a mass shooting at its office last month.
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Harper will continue to serve as co-president and a director at BREIT while holding the top leadership position, according to a regulatory filing Thursday. He replaces Wesley LePatner, who played a key role in building BREIT into a more than $50B fund. She was killed at work on July 29.
“Mrs. LePatner’s brilliance, generosity, and impact on Blackstone and beyond will never be forgotten, and we will continue to honor her powerful legacy,” the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission reads.
LePatner was among four people killed after a gunman opened fire inside the Manhattan skyscraper that hosts Blackstone and a roster of other high-profile companies. The shooter was reportedly targeting an NFL office in the building.
Harper, 47, has been at Blackstone since 2002 and has bounced between Europe and North America in senior positions at the investment giant. Harper was most recently and will continue to be the head of real estate asset management for the Americas.
He’s worked for Blackstone in Los Angeles and London, where he was the head of Europe for Blackstone’s real estate debt strategies business. Harper has previously served on the board of directors at Invitation Homes, Park Hotels & Resorts, and Extended Stay America.
LePatner had been at the top of BREIT for roughly a year after spending more than 10 years at Blackstone and helping build out the real estate fund as its chief operating officer. She said she was honored to lead the fund after being named CEO in last August.
Blackstone declined to comment beyond the SEC filing. The investment giant has the world’s largest portfolio of real estate, with $325B in assets under management.
BREIT, a nontraded fund with a $53B net asset value, has historically been a key profit driver for Blackstone. The fund has posted a more than 9% annualized net return since its inception more than eight years ago, but it returned less than 2% in 2024 as the broader commercial real estate market found its footing.
The investment giant reopened its Manhattan office a week after the shooting, although it gave employees the option to continue working remotely for a short time.
Blackstone’s total real estate business shrank by 3% in the second quarter, but it also raised $7.2B from investors for new investments, a 22% increase from the prior year.
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