Blackstone’s Online-Shopping Play: 800 Million Square Feet of Warehouses

Blackstone Group Inc. BX 1.56% is betting that the rise of online shopping will remain a bright spot in the face of slowing global economic growth. But it isn’t buying retailers. It’s buying warehouses.

The private-equity giant’s real-estate funds have done some of the year’s biggest buyouts, announcing an $18.7 billion purchase of warehouses from Singapore-based GLP in June and signing a deal in September to buy a portfolio of warehouses from Colony Capital Inc. for $5.9 billion. Both price tags included debt.