Winstar and Blackstone Group Sign Agreement to Provide Advanced Broadband Services to Class ``A'' Commercial Office Properties
Portfolio Includes Aon Building, World's Tenth Tallest Building
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 8, 2000-- WINSTAR COMMUNICATIONS, INC. (NASDAQ: WCII - news), a leading broadband services company, and BLACKSTONE REAL ESTATE ADVISORS, LP, a division of The Blackstone Group, announced today that they have signed a Master Agreement to install Winstar's fixed wireless broadband network in selected Blackstone office buildings.
Under the terms of the agreement, Winstar will be permitted to offer its broadband services, including high-speed Internet and data, Web-based information and local and long distance services, to the tenants in 26 Blackstone buildings, totaling approximately 14 million square feet. Among those buildings to receive Winstar's service are the Aon Building (formerly the Amoco Oil Building), the world's tenth tallest building, located in Chicago, as well as the Southfield Town Center, a five-building, two million square foot complex located in Southfield, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. Additional Blackstone buildings included in the agreement are located in such Winstar markets as New York, Boston, San Francisco, Dallas and Washington, DC.
``The Blackstone Group is constantly seeking solutions that will enhance the desirability of our properties and facilitate an improved business environment for our tenants,'' said Gary Sumer, senior managing director of The Blackstone Group. ``Through our agreement with Winstar, The Blackstone Group can now implement 21st century digital solutions in our portfolio, and offer tenants access to broadband services and products.''
``Winstar is proud to be bringing broadband solutions to the high-quality, high-profile buildings in the Blackstone portfolio,'' said Rick Uhl, president and chief operating officer of Winstar for Buildings. ``Through this agreement, Winstar and The Blackstone Group can help define the global information infrastructure for the new millennium, and offer current and future tenants a highly attractive and desirable amenity: advanced broadband products and services.''
Winstar works with commercial building owners and managers to provide tenants with a range of e-business solutions--including data, voice, videoconferencing, Web hosting and applications services--through its national broadband network.
About The Blackstone Group
The Blackstone Group is a privately held merchant banking firm founded in 1985 by Peter G. Peterson and Stephen A. Schwarzman that is based in New York, with additional offices in Tokyo, Hong Kong and London. Blackstone is one of the world's largest private equity investment firms, having raised over $12 billion for discretionary investment funds focused on alternative asset classes. In addition to its investment activities, Blackstone has also advised on Mergers & Acquisitions and Restructurings and Reorganization Advisory transactions, with an aggregate value of approximately $200 billion.
Since 1991, Blackstone has invested over $2.5 billion of equity capital in 98 separate real estate investments, with a total transaction value of approximately $10.7 billion. In 1999, Blackstone raised its third real estate fund, Blackstone Real Estate Partners III, with committed equity of $1.5 billion for opportunistic investments in the U.S. In addition, Blackstone is in the process of raising an international real estate fund targeted primarily on investments in Western Europe. |
