Blackstone Names Levine, Cutaia Real Estate Co-Heads as Meghji Departs
Blackstone (NYSE: BX) named David Levine and Giovanni Cutaia as global co-heads of its real estate business, the firm announced Sept. 8, succeeding Nadeem Meghji, who is departing at year-end after less than a year as the platform’s sole leader. Levine and Cutaia will oversee Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, the industry’s largest nontraded real estate investment trust, and Blackstone Digital Infrastructure Trust, the listed data center vehicle Blackstone spun out of BREIT’s portfolio.
Meghji, who joined Blackstone 19 years ago, has led the firm’s global real estate business since November 2025, when his then-co-head, Kathleen McCarthy Baldwin, departed and he was named sole head. According to reporting on the move, Meghji plans to take time with his family before pursuing new opportunities. Levine and Cutaia were both promoted in January 2026 – Cutaia to president of Blackstone Real Estate after serving as the unit’s global chief operating officer and global head of asset management, and Levine to head of the Americas real estate business after co-leading the firm’s acquisitions team, where he executed more than $100 billion in real estate investments since joining in 2010.
The reshuffle at the parent platform comes after a turbulent stretch at BREIT itself. Wesley LePatner was named BREIT’s chief executive officer at the start of 2025, succeeding Frank Cohen – a transition AltsWire reported ahead of the handoff. LePatner died in the July 2025 shooting at Blackstone’s Manhattan headquarters, which the firm’s leadership called the worst day in its 40-year history. Robert Harper, then BREIT’s co-president, stepped in as interim CEO before Katie Keenan, previously global co-chief investment officer of Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies and chief executive officer of Blackstone Mortgage Trust, was named BREIT’s permanent CEO effective Nov. 10. Keenan, who also took on the title of global head of core+ real estate, will report to Levine and Cutaia.
The leadership churn arrives as BREIT’s underlying business shows signs of stabilizing. The REIT has met all repurchase requests in full since early 2024 and logged its first positive net inflow in four years in the second quarter of 2026, with a trailing 12-month net return of roughly 11%. That said, the pace has cooled more recently: BREIT reported a 0.6% total return for August across its Class I, S-2, D-2, and T-2 shares, down from the 1.2% return AltsWire reported for July, even as the fund continued raising fresh capital and building out newer strategies such as the data center push behind the BXDC spinout.
Visit the AltsWire directory page.
