NEW YORK CITY-The Blackstone Group has agreed to buy a stake in a joint venture with Denver-based ProLogis, according to the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. The 80% stake, currently held by a fund that Boston-based Eaton Vance manages, is for 17 million square feet of US warehouse space.

Citing unidentified sources, the WSJ says Blackstone is paying $105 million and assuming $512 million of debt for the JV stake. A Blackstone spokeswoman says the company has no comment. Similarly, an Eaton Vance spokeswoman declines comment, as does a ProLogis spokeswoman, who tells GlobeSt.com, “we do not make comments on market rumors.” An industry sourcce says the WSJ and Bloomberg accounts are "basically accurate." 

ProLogis and Eaton Vance have been JV partners since 2004, when they teamed up to buy Keystone Property Trust for $1.6 billion. At that time, ProLogis and Eaton Vance affiliates formed five separate entities to buy Keystone’s 22.9 million square feet of warehouse space.

Published reports also say that Blackstone is partnering with Glimcher Realty Trust to buy the Pearlridge Center mall in Aiea, HI. The partnership is paying Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. $242 million for the retail property, according to Bloomberg and the WSJ. Click here for the WSJ article.