The Big Take
Blackstone’s $70 Billion Real Estate Fund for Retail Investors Is Losing Steam
A retail boom that supercharged private equity and real estate is slowing, challenging one of the firm’s most ambitious efforts.
The Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas
Photographer: Roger Kisby/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
In just over five years, a Blackstone Inc. real estate fund for small investors has turned into a $70 billion force in the US economy.
It has swallowed up apartments, suburban homes, dorms, data centers, hotels and shopping centers. It owns Las Vegas’s lavish Bellagio hotel and casino; a 76-story New York skyscraper designed by Frank Gehry; and a sprawling Florida complex for interns working at the Walt Disney World Resort.