A Blackstone affiliate is preparing to close on an $845.2M refinancing deal for a nearly 5,000-unit multifamily portfolio.

Cortland University City in Charlotte

The investment giant’s Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust lined up the two-year floating-rate loan with the New York branch of Deutsche Bank AG, Societe Generale Financial Corp., Bank of Montreal and Nomura Corporate Funding Americas LLC, according to a presale report compiled by Fitch Ratings. Fitch expects the loan to close next month. 

BREIT is coming off a rebound year in 2025, reversing two years’ worth of weak returns with $7.2B in inflows and improved performance.

Proceeds will be used to refinance $924.5M of existing debt and pay $14.8M in closing costs. As part of the refinancing, BREIT is contributing roughly $94.1M in new equity to close the gap between the new loan and the debt being paid off.

BREIT acquired 98% of the 12-property portfolio in 2021 from Cortland Sponsors LLC at a reported cost basis of more than $1.2B. 

Blackstone did not immediately respond to Bisnow’s request for comment. 

Cortland retained the other 2% ownership and manages nine of the properties. The remaining three properties are managed by Preferred Apartment Advisors LLC.

The 4,922-unit portfolio includes: 

• the 664-unit Cortland Park 83 built in 1989 in Roswell, Georgia; 
• the 608-unit Cortland Bowery constructed in 1989 in Tampa, Florida; 
• the 510-unit Cortland Watermark built in 1998 in Marietta, Georgia; 
• the 440-unit Cortland Gateway Park constructed in 2002 in Denver; 
• the 426-unit Cortland Southpark Terraces constructed in 2009 in Austin; 
• the 384-unit Cortland Mountain Vista completed in 2009 in Mesa, Arizona; 
• the 376-unit Cortland at Fredericksburg built in 2010 in San Antonio; 
• the 372-unit Cortland University City completed in 2009 in Charlotte, North Carolina; 
• the 323-unit Cortland East Cobb completed in 1991 in Marietta, Georgia; 
• the 284-unit Cortland Falls River built in 2001 in Raleigh, North Carolina;
• the 271-unit Cortland Whitehall completed in 2018 in Charlotte;
• and the 264-unit Cortland West Boynton constructed in 2001 in Boynton Beach, Florida.

The properties are all market-rate apartments with no major concentrations of student, senior or military housing, according to the report. 

As of January, the portfolio units have a weighted average occupancy of nearly 92% and an average monthly rent of $1,728. Occupancy declined from 94% in 2022, reflecting broader softness across the Sun Belt apartment markets as new supply increases competition.

“The properties are generally well located in markets that have above average median income and population growth with nearby demand drivers,” Fitch’s presale report says.

An appraisal of each property conducted by Newmark Valuation & Advisory gave the portfolio an aggregate as-is value of more than $1.14B. Based on that appraisal, the loan-to-value ratio for the financing is 74%.

Since acquiring ownership, BREIT has invested more than $50M in capital improvements. Fitch estimated the portfolio’s net cash flow at $56.2M.