Blackstone Takes Control of $2.1 Billion of Warehouses

Blackstone Group LP (BX) reached an agreement to take control of industrial properties valued at about $2.1 billion from Walton Street Capital LLC, a day before $2.45 billion of debt on the assets is due.

Walton Street, based in Chicago, agreed to transfer the 95 assets formerly known as the CalWest portfolio, said Peter Rose, a spokesman for New York-based private-equity firm Blackstone. The properties are located mostly in California.

Blackstone acquired about $1 billion of debt on the portfolio during the past two years, positioning it to take control as a maturity default approached. Walton Street bought the properties for about $2.8 billion five years ago as commercial real estate prices peaked.

Eric Mogentale, managing principal at Walton Street, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Hui-yong Yu in Seattle at hyu@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Kara Wetzel at kwetzel@bloomberg.net