Stoneweg eyes expansion in hospitality, living, and offices

Real estate investor Stoneweg sees the current real estate market as being in significant transformation, with investors requiring strong conviction, local knowledge, and scale for effective execution. 

Mark McLaughlin

Mark McLaughlin, CEO of Real Assets at Stoneweg, told CRE Media Europe at Expo Real that, while investors increasingly think "pan-Europe" rather than nationally, execution remains highly localized. 
He sees “resilience and rebound” in the hospitality sector, in which Stoneweg is strong in Iberia, in logistics, it maintains a pan-European presence, in living, it plans to expand its expertise in Spain to Northern Europe, while Italy offers interesting possibilities for flex living. An increasing focus for Stoneweg is also "sustainable, experience-driven" offices, leveraging insights from hospitality and living.
The integration with Cromwell should be completed within three to six months, with McLaughlin pointing to the "ideal fit" that combines Cromwell's institutional processes and systems with Stoneweg's more entrepreneurial spirit.
Factors driving optimism, according to him, include a return to lending by traditional banks, strong occupier markets, and the availability of undeployed capital, particularly from value-add and opportunistic investors, although fundraising remains challenging.
Looking ahead to 2026, Stoneweg plans to build upon its strong track record in hospitality and living in Iberia, expanding into Portugal and growing these sectors in Italy, alongside the traditional focus on logistics and office. He sees opportunities in logistics & industrial, from multi-lets and urban logistics to large "big box" facilities, ground-up and repositioning. The plan is also to expand the logistics footprint, including Italy, the Netherlands, and the Nordics, to Germany and the UK.
Additionally, Stoneweg will continue to grow its data centre portfolio, which currently stands at 2 GW across five assets. 
Branislav Pekić