Blackstone Real Estate Announces Acquisition of The Sandcrawler from Lucas Real Estate

Blackstone (NYSE: BX) today announced that funds managed by Blackstone Real Estate have agreed to acquire The Sandcrawler, a Grade-A business park in Singapore, for S$176 million from Lucas Real Estate. Inspired by the iconic Sandcrawler fortresses in the Star Wars series, the building sits within Singapore’s largest business park One-North. The Sandcrawler houses global corporations in the technology and media sectors including Lucasfilm and Disney, as well as Singapore’ Government Technology Agency (GovTech). Other tenants of One-North include Grab, Apple, and HBO.

Alan Miyasaki, Head of Real Estate Asia Acquisitions, said: “We are excited to make this investment in Singapore under Blackstone Real Estate’s Core+ strategy and expand our Southeast Asia footprint. The acquisition of this iconic building is part of our continued commitment to investing in high-quality office spaces that cater to tenants in growing sectors. In Singapore, we see ongoing demand for business parks that offer a unique campus-style experience, supported by the government’s efforts to attract global companies to set up regional headquarters here.”

Built in 2013, The Sandcrawler encompasses 173,000 square feet of office space with state-of-the-art facilities and outdoor areas with greenery and walking trails. It is centrally located within One-North, a cluster of office buildings and research facilities for tenants in information and communication technology, media, life sciences, and engineering. The area, adjacent to the central business district and public transportation, has several food and beverage outlets as well as retail stores.

The Sandcrawler has received the Green Mark Platinum rating, the highest certification given to sustainable properties, and numerous design accolades including Best Office & Business Development at the MIPIM Asia Awards 2014, Design of the Year at the President’s Design Award Singapore 2014, and Best Office Architecture Award (Singapore) at the Asia Pacific Commercial Property Awards 2011.

Blackstone is one of the leading investors in Asia today, driven by the firm’s global strategy as thematic investors focusing on fast-growing parts of the global economy such as technology, logistics, content creation, and life sciences. In India, Blackstone is the largest owner of offices, with approximately 50% of the office portfolio leased to global technology companies. In China, it announced last year the acquisition of a majority stake in the largest logistics park in Greater Bay Area, accommodating some of China’s top blue-chip corporations across logistics, e-commerce and life sciences. In the United States, the firm announced a joint venture with Hudson Pacific Properties to acquire a 49% interest in its Hollywood studios and office properties, a critical infrastructure for TV, film, and digital production.

Blackstone Real Estate
Blackstone is a global leader in real estate investing. Blackstone’s real estate business was founded in 1991 and has $187 billion of investor capital under management. Blackstone is one of the largest property owners in the world, owning and operating assets across every major geography and sector, including logistics, multifamily and single family housing, office, hospitality and retail. Our opportunistic funds seek to acquire undermanaged, well-located assets across the world. Blackstone’s Core+ strategy invests in substantially stabilized real estate globally through regional open-ended funds focused on high-quality assets and Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc. (BREIT), a non-listed REIT that invests in U.S. income-generating assets. Blackstone Real Estate also operates one of the leading global real estate debt businesses, providing comprehensive financing solutions across the capital structure and risk spectrum, including management of Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE: BXMT).