{"id":1004033480,"date":"2011-10-24T05:20:45","date_gmt":"2011-10-24T13:20:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?p=1004033480"},"modified":"2022-12-08T09:44:52","modified_gmt":"2022-12-08T17:44:52","slug":"analysis-blackstones-1-1b-bet-runs-against-the-grain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/analysis-blackstones-1-1b-bet-runs-against-the-grain\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Blackstone’s $1.1B Bet Goes Against the Grain"},"content":{"rendered":"

October 24, 2011<\/strong>
\nBy Paul Rosta, Senior Editor<\/em>
\n

\"\"<\/a>

Alpharetta, Ga., one of the 82 buildings in the portfolio<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

The Blackstone Group\u2019s $1.1 billion acquisition last week of a suburban office portfolio from Duke Realty Corp. challenges conventional wisdom on multiple fronts. In scale, the latest deal looks modest next to Blackstone\u2019s $39 billion acquisition of the Equity Office Properties portfolio in 2007, but today its price tag and geographic sweep stand out. Moreover, the deal departs from the tendency of institutional investors to chase core office product in a handful of markets.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a very, very, very big bet that is cutting a little bit against the grain,\u201d said Alan Pontius, senior vice president and national head of leased properties for Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services Inc. All told, Blackstone picked up 82 buildings in seven major markets: Atlanta, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Minneapolis, Orlando and Tampa.<\/p>\n

At first glance, Blackstone appears to be getting good bang for the buck. For an average price of about $110 per square foot, the Duke portfolio offers product that is nearly 85 percent leased and about 15 years old on average. In many cases, Pontius suggested, the price may be less than replacement cost. Conspicuously absent, however, are the elite markets usually coveted by institutional investors, especially Manhattan, Boston, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.<\/p>\n

In going against the trend, Blackstone\u2019s latest move also raises the question of how well it has calibrated risk. \u201cAll you need is five of these buildings to fall apart\u201d\u2014lose their largest tenants, for instance\u2014\u201cand all of a sudden your portfolio doesn\u2019t look so good,\u201d explained Dan Fasulo, managing director & head of research for Real Capital Analytics Inc. Nevertheless, he added, Blackstone is looking for yield, and few other investors these days have the resources to place such a massive bet on commercial real estate. \u201cThe capital markets will determine whether this is a long-term hold,\u201d Fasulo said. \u201cYou could get significant cap-rate compression for something like this without doing anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than a month before the deal\u2019s scheduled closing on Dec. 1, it is far too early to know whether Blackstone has stolen a march on the rest of the market. Nevertheless, the next several quarters may tell whether the deal marks the start of a trend. <\/p>\n

\u201cBlackstone has a reputation for making counter-market moves,\u201d Pontius pointed out. \u201cThey probably feel that they\u2019re getting in at the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Blackstone Group’s $1.1 billion acquisition last week of a suburban office portfolio from Duke Realty Corp. challenges conventional wisdom on multiple fronts — and departs from the standard approach of grabbing core office product in a handful of markets. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1201,"featured_media":1004033481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21781,21808,13,21742,21747,21785],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1004033480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-corporate-real-estate","category-featured","category-midwest","category-latest","category-office","category-property-management"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Blackstone's $1.1B Bet Goes Against the Grain - Commercial Property Executive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/analysis-blackstones-1-1b-bet-runs-against-the-grain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Blackstone's $1.1B Bet Goes Against the Grain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Blackstone Group's $1.1 billion acquisition last week of a suburban office portfolio from Duke Realty Corp. challenges conventional wisdom on multiple fronts -- and departs from the standard approach of grabbing core office product in a handful of markets.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/analysis-blackstones-1-1b-bet-runs-against-the-grain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commercial Property Executive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CPExecutive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-10-24T13:20:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-08T17:44:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2011\/10\/102411-Blackstone-Duke-Portfolio-Alpharetta.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"320\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nicholas Ziegler\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/analysis-blackstones-1-1b-bet-runs-against-the-grain\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/analysis-blackstones-1-1b-bet-runs-against-the-grain\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nicholas Ziegler\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ff3a837f33daecfcf8978b405eaae20c\"},\"headline\":\"Why Blackstone’s $1.1B Bet Goes Against the Grain\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-10-24T13:20:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-08T17:44:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/analysis-blackstones-1-1b-bet-runs-against-the-grain\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":419,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/analysis-blackstones-1-1b-bet-runs-against-the-grain\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/46\\\/2011\\\/10\\\/102411-Blackstone-Duke-Portfolio-Alpharetta.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Corporate Real Estate\",\"Featured\",\"Midwest\",\"News\",\"Office\",\"Property Management\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/analysis-blackstones-1-1b-bet-runs-against-the-grain\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/analysis-blackstones-1-1b-bet-runs-against-the-grain\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.commercialsearch.com\\\/news\\\/analysis-blackstones-1-1b-bet-runs-against-the-grain\\\/\",\"name\":\"Why Blackstone's $1.1B Bet Goes Against the Grain - 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