Blackstone Real Estate’s Bill Stein Retires After Nearly 30 Years
By Dawn Lim
Bill Stein, a real estate veteran at Blackstone Inc. who played a role in shaping major investments in the $335 billion company, is retiring after nearly three decades at the firm.
Stein, a senior managing director, has been involved with notable Blackstone holdings, including Hilton Worldwide, casino resort Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and single-family home rental company Invitation Homes. He has served on the boards of companies including Great Wolf Lodge and Extended Stay America.
Stein has scaled back his responsibilities over the years. After leading asset management in the real estate business, Stein stepped down from that role in 2018. That group is responsible for overseeing all investments within the portfolio. That year, co-head of asset management Gio Cutaia was promoted to sole head of that role. Stein recently discussed his departure.
“It has been an incredible honor to work with Bill and to call him a friend for nearly 30 years,” Blackstone President Jon Gray, the firm’s former real estate chief, said in a statement. “Everyone at Blackstone is deeply grateful for his immense contributions.”
Blackstone’s real estate business has grown over the years to become the firm’s largest business, with a total value of approximately $1.1 trillion in assets.
This year, Nadeem Meghji, who has been head of the real estate practice in the Americas since 2017, was promoted to co-head of the real estate practice, alongside Kathleen McCarthy, who has been co-head of the practice since 2018.
Frank Cohen — chairman of core-plus real estate, which aims to deliver stable returns through long-term investments — is also retiring from Blackstone. He will step down as CEO of Blackstone’s real estate fund for high-net-worth individuals, Blackstone Real Estate Investment Trust, in early 2025.
Read more: Blackstone’s BREIT names Wesley LePatner as CEO, succeeding Cohen
Wesley LePatner, who is head of core-plus real estate and joined Blackstone in 2014, takes on that role at BREIT.
First publication: Sep 17, 2024 | 12:03 AM IST