Nadeem Meghji, Blackstone’s global head of real estate, is stepping down from his role less than a year after assuming sole leadership of the firm’s real-estate business, marking the latest in a series of recent high-level departures within the group. Meghji, who has been with Blackstone for nearly two decades, is leaving for personal reasons, including a desire to spend more time with his family, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Meghji’s departure follows the exit of Kathleen McCarthy in 2025, who stepped down after 15 years co-leading the global real estate division. Over the past three years, around a dozen senior managing directors have also left Blackstone’s real-estate team, which comprises 45 senior managing directors with an average tenure of 14 years.

To fill Meghji’s position, Blackstone has appointed two veteran executives as co-heads of its global real estate business: David Levine, formerly head of Blackstone’s real estate group in the Americas, and Giovanni Cutaia, previously president of the real estate unit. Both have been with the company for at least 12 years.

Blackstone’s real-estate portfolio is valued at more than $600 billion, making it one of the world’s largest investors in commercial property. The New York-based firm employs over 800 real-estate professionals across approximately a dozen global offices. Blackstone’s total assets under management exceed $1.3 trillion, spanning private equity, infrastructure, and hedge funds.

Since its early focus on acquiring distressed properties after the early 1990s recession, Blackstone has established a reputation for high-profile transactions. Notable deals include the acquisitions of Hilton Hotels, the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas, and the Willis Tower in Chicago. More recently, the company has invested heavily in data centers and rental housing, reflecting current industry trends.

Meghji joined Blackstone in 2008 and was promoted to head of real estate for the Americas in 2017. In 2024, he was named global co-head of real estate before taking sole control of the division later that year.

Blackstone’s real estate arm has achieved significant milestones in recent years. In 2023, it closed a $30.4 billion global real estate fund, the largest ever raised in the real estate or private equity sectors. In 2022, it sold the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas for $5.65 billion, generating approximately $4.1 billion in profit, including operational cash flow, marking the most profitable single-asset real estate sale in the firm’s history.

However, the group has also faced challenges. Starting in late 2022, investors withdrew funds en masse from Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust (BREIT), prompting the fund to restrict redemptions for more than a year. These pressures have since lessened, with BREIT reopening to all withdrawal requests in early 2024 and recording its first positive net inflow in four years during the second quarter of 2026.