8-K
Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc. (BSTT)
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): September 18, 2025
Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc.
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)
| Maryland | 000-55931 | 81-0696966 |
|---|---|---|
| (State or Other Jurisdiction<br> <br>of Incorporation) | (Commission<br> <br>File Number) | (IRS. Employer<br> <br>Identification No.) |
| 345 Park Avenue | ||
| --- | ||
| New York, New York 10154 | ||
| (Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code) |
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code:
(212) 583-5000
Not Applicable
(Former Name or Former Address, if Changed Since Last Report)
Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:
| ☐ | Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425) |
|---|---|
| ☐ | Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12) |
| --- | --- |
| ☐ | Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b)) |
| --- | --- |
| ☐ | Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c)) |
| --- | --- |
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: None
| Title of each class | Trading<br>Symbol(s) | Name of each exchange<br> <br>on which registered |
|---|
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act of 1933 (§230.405 of this chapter) or Rule 12b-2 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (§240.12b-2 of this chapter).
Emerging growth company ☐
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
| Item 5.02. | Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers. |
|---|
On September 19, 2025, Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc. (the “Company”) announced that the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) has appointed Katharine A. Keenan as Chief Executive Officer of the Company and Zaneta Koplewicz as Co-President of the Company, alongside A.J. Agarwal, one of the Company’s current Co-Presidents, in each case, effective November 10, 2025. Additionally, the Board elected Mses. Keenan and Koplewicz to each serve as a director, effective November 10, 2025. The Board approved these actions on September 18, 2025.
Concurrent with these appointments and effective November 10, 2025, Robert Harper, the Company’s interim CEO, Co-President and a director, stepped down from his current roles and resumed the role of the Company’s Head of Asset Management, a position he previously held from August 2016 to August 2023. Mr. Harper will serve as an observer of the Board. The Company is grateful to Mr. Harper for stepping into the interim CEO role following the tragic loss of Wesley M. LePatner, and looks forward to his continued leadership with the Company.
Katharine A. Keenan, 41, is a Senior Managing Director in the Real Estate group of Blackstone and the Global Head of Blackstone’s Core+ Real Estate business. Ms. Keenan has been with Blackstone since 2012 and prior to joining the Company’s executive team, she was the Global Co-Chief Investment Officer of Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies and Chief Executive Officer, President and a director of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE: BXMT). She is a member of Blackstone Real Estate’s Investment Committee. Ms. Keenan brings over a decade of experience at the firm to the role, overseeing loan originations and other commercial debt investments for institutional, public and insurance capital vehicles and leading all aspects of BXMT’s activities, including its investments, capital markets activities, operations and strategy. Before joining Blackstone, Ms. Keenan held positions at G2 Investment Group, Lubert-Adler Real Estate Funds and in the Real Estate Investment Banking Group at Lehman Brothers. She is a member of the board of directors of Getting Out and Staying Out, the NAREIT Advisory Board of Governors and WX New York Women Executives in Real Estate. Ms. Keenan graduated cum laude with an A.B. in History from Harvard College.
Zaneta Koplewicz, 41, is a Senior Managing Director in the Real Estate group of Blackstone and the Company’s Head of Shareholder Relations. Since joining Blackstone in 2021, Ms. Koplewicz’s primary responsibility has been managing the Company’s interface with clients and other key stakeholders. Before joining Blackstone, Ms. Koplewicz spent 14 years at BlackRock where she was most recently a Managing Director responsible for developing and growing relationships with large, strategic clients in North America. Prior to that, she held several roles within BlackRock Alternative Investors including Global Head of Product Strategy for the Event Driven business, where she led client engagement and business strategy for the platform across institutional and private wealth clients. Ms. Koplewicz received a B.A. in Politics with a certificate in African American Studies from Princeton University.
Mses. Keenan and Koplewicz are each Senior Managing Directors in the Real Estate group of Blackstone and were requested by Blackstone to serve on the Board. There are no family relationships between Mses. Keenan and Koplewicz and any director or executive officer of the Company and there are no transactions between either of them and the Company that would be required to be reported under Item 404(a) of Regulation S-K.
| Item 7.01. | Regulation FD Disclosure. |
|---|
On September 19, 2025, the Company issued a press release announcing the foregoing leadership changes. The press release is furnished as Exhibit 99.1 to this Current Report on Form 8-K and is incorporated herein by reference.
| Item 9.01. | Financial Statements and Exhibits. |
|---|
(d) Exhibits
| Exhibit<br>No. | Description |
|---|---|
| 99.1 | Press Release of Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc., dated September 19, 2025. |
| 104 | Cover Page Interactive Data File (embedded within the Inline XBRL document). |
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
| BLACKSTONE REAL ESTATE INCOME TRUST, INC. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date: September 19, 2025 | ||
| By: | /s/ Leon Volchyok | |
| Name: | Leon Volchyok | |
| Title: | Chief Legal Officer |
EX-99.1
Exhibit 99.1
Blackstone Real Estate Announces Key Leadership Appointments
Katie Keenan appointed CEO of BREIT and Global Head of Core+ Real Estate
Tim Johnson appointed CEO of BXMT
New York – September 19, 2025 – Blackstone (NYSE: BX) today announced several senior leadership updates within its Real Estate business.
BREIT and Core+ Leadership
Katie Keenan has been appointed Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc. (“BREIT”) and Global Head of the Core+ Real Estate business. She succeeds Wesley M. LePatner, who served in both roles until her tragic passing on July 28, 2025.
Ms. Keenan is a long-tenured Blackstone executive and has held numerous leadership positions since joining the firm in 2012. She currently serves as Global Co-Chief Investment Officer of Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies (“BREDS”) and Chief Executive Officer of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, Inc. (NYSE: BXMT), a publicly-traded commercial mortgage REIT managed by a subsidiary of Blackstone. Ms. Keenan has been integral to the success of BXMT and the broader BREDS business, helping grow the BREDS platform to $77 billion today.
Zaneta Koplewicz, currently BREIT Head of Shareholder Relations, has been named Co-President and Director of BREIT with current Co-President, Blackstone veteran A.J. Agarwal. BREIT Interim CEO Rob Harper will resume his long-time role as BREIT Head of Asset Management.
Ms. Keenan said: “Thanks to the dedication of Wesley and many others, BREIT represents some of Blackstone’s finest work. Its strong performance is driven by a portfolio that is ~90% concentrated in sectors that are benefitting from long-term, secular megatrends, particularly data centers. BREIT is incredibly well-positioned and I am looking forward to working with the team to capitalize on the ongoing real estate recovery, with new supply falling sharply, the cost of debt capital coming down, and transaction activity picking up.”
BREIT’s highly differentiated portfolio positioning has led to a 9.2% annualized net return on Class I since inception over 8 and a half years ago, over 60% higher than the public REIT index on a cumulative basis.
BXMT Leadership
Tim Johnson has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of BXMT, succeeding Ms. Keenan. As the Global Head of BREDS and Chair of BXMT’s Board, Mr. Johnson has played an active role in overseeing BXMT for over a decade and has deep expertise across Blackstone’s commercial real estate credit investment strategies. Mr. Johnson is a seasoned investor and has been with Blackstone since 2011. He will continue as the Global Head of BREDS and Chair of BXMT’s Board.
Austin Peña, currently Executive Vice President, Investments of BXMT, has been named President and Director, and will continue leading the company’s investment, capital allocation, and balance sheet strategy.
Mr. Johnson said: “I’ve had the honor of serving as BXMT’s Chair and I am looking forward to building on BXMT’s momentum, including $2.6 billion in new investments last quarter and a nearly 20% YTD total return. The team’s breadth and creativity enable us to source investments across channels and markets, unlocking value during a particularly compelling period. The entire BREDS platform, which includes BXMT, has been incredibly active capturing this real estate credit environment, having deployed $38 billion since the beginning of 2024, and we expect that activity to continue across the business.”
Nadeem Meghji and Kathleen McCarthy, Global Co-Heads of Blackstone Real Estate, said: “The resilience demonstrated by our team in recent weeks has been nothing short of extraordinary. We are fortunate to have a deep bench of talented colleagues with a relentless focus on delivering for our investors. Katie and Tim both have invaluable leadership and investing experience that we believe will continue to drive strong performance across both businesses.”
All changes are effective November 10, 2025, with the exception of Ms. Keenan’s appointment as Global Head of Core+ Real Estate, which is effective immediately.
About Blackstone Real Estate
Blackstone is a global leader in real estate investing. Blackstone’s real estate business was founded in 1991 and has US $325 billion of investor capital under management. Blackstone is the largest owner of commercial real estate globally, owning and operating assets across every major geography and sector, including logistics, data centers, residential, office and hospitality. Our opportunistic funds seek to acquire undermanaged, well-located assets across the world. Blackstone’s Core+ business invests in substantially stabilized real estate assets globally, through both institutional strategies and strategies tailored for income-focused individual investors including Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Inc. (BREIT). 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, Inc. (NYSE: BXMT).
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the federal securities laws. You can identify these forward-looking statements by the use of words such as “outlook,” “objective,” “indicator,” “believes,” “expects,” “potential,” “continues,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “seeks,” “predicts,” “intends,” “plans,” “estimates,” “anticipates” or the negative version of these words or other comparable words. These may include financial estimates and their underlying assumptions, statements about plans, objectives, intentions, and expectations with respect to positioning, including the impact of macroeconomic trends and market forces, future operations, and future performance and statements regarding identified but not yet closed acquisitions. Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, there are or will be important factors that could cause actual outcomes or results to differ materially from those indicated in these statements. We believe these factors include but are not limited to those described under the section entitled “Risk Factors” in the Annual Reports on Form 10-K of Blackstone Inc., BREIT and BXMT for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024, as such factors may be updated from time to time in their respective periodic filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) which are accessible on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive and should be read in conjunction with the other cautionary statements that are included in this release and in the filings. Except as otherwise required by federal securities laws, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.
Contacts
Jeffrey Kauth
Jeffrey.Kauth@Blackstone.com
(212) 583-5395