Blackstone Bets $18.7 Billion on Amazon Effect in Warehouse Deal

The mall is now a warehouse, and Blackstone Group LP is betting $18.7 billion on the shift.

That’s how much the alternative investment manager is paying for 179 million square feet of urban logistics properties -- the warehouses used by Amazon.com Inc. and other retailers to fulfill orders from online shoppers. The dealBloomberg Terminal with Singapore’s GLP Pte, the second-largest owner of U.S. logistics real estate, will almost double Blackstone’s U.S. industrial footprint.