In one of its biggest New York City residential deals yet, the Blackstone Group is buying 25 Manhattan apartment buildings from the Caiola family for $700 million.
The buildings include around 1,000 apartments and are clustered in Chelsea and on the Upper East Side. Blackstone’s minority partner on the deal is Fairstead Capital, Bloomberg reported, referring to an unnamed source.
Fairstead is a family office co-founded by Stephen Siegel, chair of global brokerage at CBRE.
In January, The Real Deal reported that Joseph Sitt’s Thor Equities was in contract to buy the portfolio for nearly $800 million. It wasn’t immediately clear whether Thor was involved in this latest transaction, or whether the January deal fell through. Representatives for Thor couldn’t be reached for comment.
The purchase is in line with Blackstone’s U.S. strategy, which has focused heavily on buying rental buildings in the wake of the 2007 mortgage crisis and a resulting decline in homeownership. The firm’s Invitation Homes division owns 48,000 single-family rental homes across the country, making it the largest owner of such assets.
Blackstone has been an active player in New York’s real estate market in 2015. Just last month, the fund manager bought the mall and parking garage Sky View Parc in Flushing for $400 million. [Bloomberg News] — Konrad Putzier
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The Commercial Observer – Locked and Loaded