REAL ESTATE NEWS

A trio of Blackstone's property management firms are merging to combine their retail and office expertise and footprints.

ShopCore Properties, Retail Opportunity Investments Corp., and EQ Office are rebranding as Perform Properties, which will offer a national portfolio of 175 assets spanning more than 33 million square feet. The office footprint will span 14 million square feet, while the retail portion will occupy 19 million square feet.

The newly launched company specializes in leasing, transactions, development and the management of properties. Perform Properties plans to emphasize "work, shop and play", a trend that's been luring workers back into offices following the pandemic.

“In a market where people have more choices than ever, the properties that succeed are those that perform — for tenants, customers, investors, and communities,” Alex Vouvalides, CEO of Perform Properties, said in a statement.

“At Perform, we are committed to providing high-functioning, high-impact spaces designed to meet the evolving needs of businesses, their customers, and employees — delivering places where people want to be.”

The merger comes months after Blackstone completed its massive $4 billion acquisition of Retail Opportunity. The purchased company mostly focused on West Coast grocery-anchor retail properties, with locations in Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco and Portland.

Additionally, it follows the merger of EQ Office and ShopCore, which was completed in December. Now they will all be known as Perform Properties.

Aside from the new merger, Blackstone has continued to remain active across CRE. This week alone, it made headlines for its $925 million debt facility issued to Colovore for an expansion into liquid cool data centers and its $200 million investment in multifamily property management software provider, Entrata. Also, in recent days, Bloomberg reported that a Blackstone-led joint venture sold $395 million worth of commercial real estate loans.

Source: GlobeSt/ALM