Blackstone Sells Stake In Three Virginia Data Centers Amid Grassroot Outrage
Up until now, when it comes to real estate, Blackstone was best known in recent years for dumping many of its trophy office properties - which in the aftermath of work from home never recovered their projected cash flow potential - at a huge discount. Now, it may be pulling a page from its old, pre-Lehman playbook by calling the top in yet another commercial real estate segment: data centers.
According to Bloomberg, Blackstone is selling its stakes in a trio of data centers across Northern Virginia for $3.5 billion, cashing out of part of a bet it made less than three years ago.
Digital Realty Trust will pay $1.2 billion of cash and offer $2.3 billion of its shares to Blackstone funds, the firms said in a statement Monday. In exchange, the data center company will acquire Blackstone’s 80% interest in two 96-megawatt data centers in Manassas, Virginia, and a 50% interest in a 96-megawatt center in nearby Sterling.
The assets involved in this week’s sale were part of a joint venture that Blackstone announced it would set up with Digital Realty in 2023 as it sought to get ahead in the AI arms race that has engulfed Wall Street in recent years. Blackstone and Digital Realty will continue to work together on their remaining data center investments located elsewhere in Northern Virginia as well as in Paris and Frankfurt.
“We have developed a strong partnership with Blackstone,” Greg Wright, Digital Realty CEO, said in the statement. “This transaction reflects the next phase of that relationship, allowing us to increase our ownership in a portfolio of fully leased, high-quality hyperscale assets.”
It does. The question is why did Blackstone decide to pull the cord now, just as fresh doubts are creeping whether the Mag 7s will continue funding the AI expansion with virtually unlimited capex.
As part of Wall Street’s broader push into data centers, investment has poured into Northern Virginia, which is considered the country’s largest data center market, and is better known as "Data Center Alley".
That includes Digital Gateway, an ambitious plan for a 2,100-acre corridor in the region that would house as many as 37 data-center buildings.
Data center developers eyeing that land have faced strident opposition. Compass Datacenters, backed by Brookfield Asset Management, recently pulled out of a yearslong effort to build a key part of the development after facing intense pushback from local residents. Blackstone’s QTS is also fighting in court to salvage a similarly sized development on adjacent parcels.
The increasingly vocal political and grassroots pushback against new data center construction may explain why Blackstone is getting cold feet just as the AI bubble is peaking. A recent Gallup poll found that 7 in 10 Americans oppose constructing data centers for artificial intelligence in their local area, including nearly half, 48%, who are strongly opposed. Barely a quarter favor these projects, with 7% strongly in favor.
Half of opponents mention data centers’ excessive use of resources, including 18% each mentioning their use of water and energy. Sixteen percent mention a related environmental concern of pollution, including noise pollution and air and water pollution.
About one in five opponents are concerned with the impact on local quality of life, including increased population, increased traffic and preferring that the land be used for other purposes. A similar share mention potentially negative economic consequences, including higher utility bills, cost-of-living increases, and the cost of building the data centers (which could involve the use of taxpayer funds).
Most of the remaining opposition stems from general or specific concerns about artificial intelligence.
Blackstone, which manages more than $1.3 trillion, bills itself as the largest global provider of data centers, and also owns some of the utilities that power them. It acquired QTS in 2021 and bought Australian computing provider AirTrunk in 2024. In May, the firm held an initial public offering for Blackstone Digital Infrastructure Trust Inc., its data center acquisition vehicle, which aims to buy already built and leased properties benefiting from the artificial intelligence boom.
The firm has more than $150 billion of data center assets, and it has identified an additional $160 billion worth of opportunities for its pipeline, CEO Steve Schwarzman said in April.
Affiliates of Blackstone are already selling the Digital Realty equity they’re set to receive from this week’s deal, which is expected to be completed Tuesday. They’re offering the stock at as much as a 2.9% discount to Monday’s closing price of $190.58, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar.
Plus-size UN Special Rapporteur for HEALTH leaves role
A South African doctor who served as the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health left her role after a tenure riddled with controversy.
Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in July 2020 and completed the maximum term of six years in the role.
On June 17, Mofokeng delivered her final report and called on countries to adopt 'anti-racist' and 'anti-colonial' health policies.
'The failure of states to adopt an anti-racist, anti-colonial, and dignity-based approaches through extractive capitalistic practices, pillaging of resources, coloniality, genocides, and then crushes people under the weight of indignity. Health cannot be realized without dignity,' she said.
After receiving heaping praise, Mofokeng was confronted by UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer over her many controversial remarks.
Neuer called out Mofokeng for publishing an article in Teen Vogue titled 'Why Sex Work Is Real Work.'
In the article, she wrote that 'some people may have fantasies and kink preferences that they are able to fulfill with the services of a sex worker,' and 'in some ways, aren’t we all [sex workers]?'
'Given the widespread exploitation, trafficking, and abuse in the prostitution industry, do you still stand by those remarks?' Neuer asked.
South African doctor Tlaleng Mofokeng, who served as the United Nations' Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, was confronted over her controversial remarks
UN Watch released a report in a May highlighting Mofokeng's anti-Israel ideology, pro-Hamas sentiment and promotion of prostitution
UN Watch, a non-governmental organization that monitors the UN, released a report in May that highlighted Mofokeng's anti-Israel ideology, pro-Hamas sentiment and promotion of prostitution.
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In one post on X included in the report, Mofokeng wrote, 'From the river to the sea Palestine will be free.'
Mofokeng defended Hamas in another post, writing, 'Armed struggle against colonization is not terrorism.'
In a third post, she wrote, 'That Hamas are not terrorists is fact.'
While the UN does not consider Hamas a terrorist organization, many countries, including the United States and the European Union, do.
After Neuer confronted Mofokeng, she responded, 'And in the face of fierce, personal, targeted attacks, incitement of violence against me, escalating into domestic spaces as professional harassment and intimidation, both in real life and in online spaces, I stand here today with very few answers to the grand scale of human suffering.'
Mofokeng's remarks received praise from the Palestinian Delegation, the Arab Group, Planned Parenthood, Amnesty International and other groups.
'We also commend your courage in documenting genocidal acts perpetrated in Gaza,' the Planned Parenthood representative said.
Mofokeng was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council in July 2020 and completed the maximum term of six years in the role this year
The Amnesty International delegate added, 'We commend the Special Rapporteur for calling for the decriminalization of abortion and sex work.
'She has recognized Israel’s genocide. We call on this Council and its Special Rapporteurs to build progressively on Dr. Mofokeng’s considerable legacy of body of work.'
The Daily Mail contacted Mofokeng and the United Nations for comment.
