Blackstone REIT fundraising breaks $20b mark

November marked a major milestone in nonlisted REIT fundraising, as Blackstone REIT broke the $20 billion mark, reaching $20.356 billion in cumulative fundraising, the most money ever raised in a single nonlisted REIT, according to Robert A. Stranger & Company, Inc.

The firm predicted this day back in 2017, right after the fund broke escrow. In a meeting with the senior Blackstone team, Kevin Gannon, chairman and CEO of Robert A. Stanger & Co., Inc., was asked how he thought the REIT would be received in the marketplace. Gannon told Jonathan Gray, president and COO of Blackstone, and his team, “If BREIT does not raise $20 billion, you should be ashamed of yourselves.” To emphasize the point, after that meeting, Gannon had Rawlings make a half dozen catchers mitts branded “BREIT $20B,” and sent them off to the BREIT team. Now, less than four years later, Stanger has placed an order for a dozen catcher’s mitts with a new, more challenging target for Blackstone