Ares Bets on Texas Suburban Retail With Whitestone Buy

Ares Management is making a back-to-basics wager on grocery-anchored strip centers in fast-growing Texas suburbs.

The Los Angeles-based firm agreed to acquire Whitestone REIT in a $1.7 billion all-cash deal, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The transaction, which carries a 26.5 percent premium to Whitestone’s unaffected share price, will take the Houston-based retail landlord private and merge it with Ares real estate funds, the Dallas Morning News reported. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter and has unanimous board approval.

Whitestone’s portfolio is squarely suburban and Sun Belt-focused, with 56 properties across Texas and Arizona. In North Texas alone, the firm owns more than 1 million square feet of retail, including centers like Las Colinas Village in Irving, Headquarters Village in Plano and Eldorado Plaza in McKinney. The firm most recently purchased the fully leased, 81,407-square-foot Ashford Village shopping center in west Houston anchored by Asian grocer Seiwa Market.

The properties rely heavily on necessity retail — grocers, fitness tenants and service-oriented businesses — a segment that has held up better than traditional mall formats, the outlet reported.

The deal caps months of speculation surrounding Whitestone’s future. Reuters reported earlier this year that private equity heavyweights Blackstone and TPG were also circling the company as it faced pressure from activist investors to explore a sale and shed its public market discount. Whitestone also previously rejected multiple attempts by Baltimore-based MCB Real Estate to acquire it, including an offer late last year that equated to $1.4 billion including debt, as previously reported in The Real Deal.

Ares manages more than $600 billion globally. The Whitestone acquisition is less about turnaround and more about doubling down on demographic tailwinds, according to the publication. The firm is calculating that population growth and limited land supply in metros like Dallas-Fort Worth and Phoenix will continue to buoy neighborhood retail, even as other property classes wobble. Ares also recently purchased industrial property outside of Chicago in February.

Whitestone CEO Dave Holeman framed his company’s strategy in a statement as focused on “connection and convenience” in local communities.

That calculus comes as similar property management firms face scrutiny from investors over exposure to tech and software bets tied to artificial intelligence, according to the outlet. Ares’ own stock has slid sharply from early 2026 highs. — Eric Weilbacher