Blackstone took its biggest leap yet in the transition from distressed to stable real estate investments by acquiring from RXR Realty a roughly 50% stake in a $4B New York metro area portfolio. Five of the six buildings it now partly owns are in Manhattan, with the last being Princeton's University Square Campus. All told the properties constitute 5.3M SF of real estate. The Starrett-Lehigh Building, above, in Chelsea comprises 2.3M of the total square footage.
The transaction is the first major recapitilzation since 2007 for Scott Rechler's RXR, which will still operate the properties. Rechler told Bloomberg that the sale should not be read as a hedge against New York's white hot office market, which he expects has further room for growth.
