The PERE Podcast

The PERE Podcast heads to Las Vegas this week as host McKenna Leavens breaks down one of the splashiest capital markets moves of the year: Blackstone’s planned $3.05 billion CMBS refinancing of The Cosmopolitan. The deal taps into powerful forces shaping today’s credit landscape, from the growing appetite for top-tier hospitality assets to the resilience of destination markets in a post-pandemic environment. 

Joining McKenna in New York are PERE Credit deputy editor Randy Plavajka and PERE Credit senior reporter Shihao Feng, who unpack why this transaction is resonating so strongly in today’s lending market. The team traces the long-running attraction of institutional capital to Las Vegas, dating back in modern markets to the billions in hospitality trades made in 2020 and 2021, and why that conviction is now spilling over onto the debt side. They also explore Blackstone’s deep footprint in the market.  

From the surge in securitized refinancing activity to the growing role of SASB structures and the rise of C-PACE as a flexible capital tool, the episode digs into how Vegas has become a proving ground for refinancing activity heading further into 2026. Later in the episode, listen as founder and managing partner of Brighton Capital Advisors, Michael Cohen, shares how The Cosmo refinancing ranks within today’s CMBS landscape and what it signals for hospitality financing more broadly.

This episode looks at the relationship between artificial intelligence risk and private real estate investing.

Major firms including Amazon, Meta, Google and Microsoft are projected to spend approximately $650 billion on AI and related infrastructure. Amazon alone says it intends to spend $200 billion on AI, chips, robotics and satellites.

Will these plans prove to be sustainable long-term strategies, or is this a sign of a bubble? How an AI-driven correction could impact institutional private real estate – in terms of capital flows, asset pricing and demand assumptions – is a pertinent question. This is especially the case in light of the industry's push into the data center sector, both in the US and Europe, across equity and debt strategies. But the impact of a correction would not necessarily stop there.

This week, we ask Goodwin Gaw for his perspectives on the subject. Listen as the co-founder and chairman of Gaw Capital Partners, one of Asia's most prominent private real estate managers, addresses how investors might position themselves to capture AI-related growth while remaining defensive against cyclical volatility.

For real estate, data centers may be the most obvious way to ride the AI wave. But they’re not without risk. If sentiment shifts or capital tightens, that part of the market could feel it first. What may emerge instead is a two-pronged approach to investing: doubling down on the fundamentals of necessity-driven assets on one end, and high-conviction luxury and lifestyle assets on the other. Gaw says this is a moment for the industry to stay nimble, to anticipate disruption and to be firmly on the front foot.

This episode is an excerpt from a wider interview between Gaw and Jonathan Brasse, PEI Group's real estate editor-in-chief. The discussion was recorded as part of a webinar for PERE Network members, designed to share insights emerging from PERE's Advisory Board conversations.

This episode is sponsored by AllianceBernstein

European real estate is entering a new phase, with values reset, interest rates stabilising and investors adjusting to a world where ultra-low borrowing costs are no longer the norm.

In this episode of The PERE Podcast, Clark Coffee, chief investment officer of AllianceBernstein’s European commercial real estate debt business, discusses why this shift is changing the balance between equity and debt investing and why downside protection has become paramount.

He notes that one challenge in today’s environment is trying to understand what assets might be worth if business plans fail or markets shift – a task made more urgent by rapid changes driven by AI, remote working and evolving real estate use.

Against this backdrop, Coffee sees European real estate debt becoming more popular among investors as a secure source of income.

To read more about European real estate debt, check out the latest deals in Real Estate Capital Europe's lending database

The rapidly institutionalizing industrial outdoor storage sector is back in the spotlight this week thanks to an agreement struck by Brookfield Asset Management to take real estate investment trust Peakstone Realty private for $1.2 billion in cash. The deal marks a dramatic return to the IOS space for Brookfield, which sold a portfolio of IOS properties it had aggregated in the US for $277 million a year ago, and highlights investors’ growing conviction for a hot subsector of the broader industrial market.

With that mega-deal setting the tone, The PERE Podcast takes a deep dive into the industrial outdoor storage market – including the most basic question: What actually constitutes IOS? What is driving investors’ and fund managers’ aggressive pursuit of scale in the fragmented sector? And what do their varying approaches suggest about the outlook for the category? Host Greg Dool sits with PERE Credit deputy editor Randy Plavajka and PERE Deals reporter McKenna Leavens to discuss all of these questions and more.

Later in the episode, we hear from Price Booker, chief investment officer at Maryland-based manager and industrial outdoor storage specialist Realterm, for his perspective on the risks, opportunities and growing investable market associated with IOS strategies.

Citations:

Brookfield takes Peakstone private in $1.2bn deal - PERE Deals

Realterm reels in €470m for second European IOS fund - PERE

If you're a regular listener, tell us what you think. We are currently inviting feedback via this survey as we seek to improve our podcast output. We would love to hear your feedback on what you enjoy about these weekly episodes and to better understand what we can improve. 

Show notes

The oil-rich economies of the Middle East’s Gulf Cooperation Council have long been essential capital sources for private real estate managers, with the region well-represented among the largest institutional investors in the asset class globally. But for a growing number of firms, Middle-East real estate is now emerging as a destination for capital deployment too.

On the latest episode of The PERE Podcast, we discuss how economic diversification, growth forecasts, regulatory reforms and relative isolation from tariff volatility have prompted several international asset managers to launch or commit to strategies targeting the region over the past year, including Gaw Capital, Blackstone, Brookfield Asset Management, SC Capital Partners and Rava Partners, among others.

But investment in the region comes with its own unique risks, as exemplified this week by news that Saudi Arabia is scaling back previously outlined plans for several ambitious development projects, including the futuristic city known as 'The Line.' Do depressed oil prices, tightening liquidity conditions and continued geopolitical concerns represent a threat to these institutional plays targeting the region? Or are more firms likely to join the rush undeterred? Host Greg Dool sits with PERE’s EMEA editor Charlotte D’Souza and PEI Group’s real estate editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse to break it all down.

Later in the episode, Brasse sits down with Ghada Sousou, managing partner of executive search firm Sousou Partners, which last year formed a dedicated capital advisory business focused on connecting private fund managers with Saudi Arabian institutional capital.

Further reading:

PERE's Full-Year 2025 Fundraising Report

PERE's Global Investor 100 ranking

Saudi Arabia to scale back Neom megaproject - The Financial Times

Blackstone forms $5bn Gulf logistics venture

Gaw Capital's Middle Eastern promises

Hillhouse's Rava debuts in Gulf with school platform