One of Wall Street’s giants, Blackstone’s Steve Schwarzman, may have finally found the equivalent of that tiniest of creatures: the English red newt.
The private equity boss is looking to renovate a rundown 2,500-acre country estate in Wiltshire, southern England, which he bought in 2022 for $100 million.
But Britain’s notoriously strict town planning laws are proving to be a major headache for the 77-year-old billionaire, with the humble amphibian slowing progress on construction of a striking countryside pile called Conholt Park.
The red newt is an endangered species in Europe but is common in British wetlands.
Schwarzman, whose net worth is estimated at $38 billion, was forced to order a DNA detection report for the red newt last June, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post.
Schwarzman’s renovations will include a new lake, a three-story wing on the property and renovated stables to house staff. It will be displayed in the application.
Hundreds of pages of documents show the extraordinary hurdles Schwarzman had to overcome to get the plans approved by local government clerks.
An army of consultants was brought in to prepare a series of environmental impact statements, which are required by British law.
He and his wife, Christine, have signed up to a 30-year “habitat mitigation” strategy that includes weekly biodiversity audits and timing construction to avoid amphibian hibernation.
Meanwhile, according to the detection report, Konholt Park is considered an area where newts do not live.
A Blackstone spokesman told the Post: “The good news is that there are no newts, as reported.”
Ahead of a dinner in New York on Tuesday, Schwarzman spoke passionately to Britain’s new chancellor of the exchequer, Rachel Reeves, about how bureaucracy is hampering the renovation of the 17th-century building.
Britain’s recently elected left-wing government claims it wants to repeal outdated town planning laws to make it easier to build new homes and address the country’s chronic housing shortage.
But a source close to Blackstone’s CEO denied suggestions that Schwarzman used the meeting to lobby for special treatment.
“Steve has no recollection of talking about newts,” the source said.
The Financial Times reported that the two also discussed Blackstone’s plans to open a $13 billion data center in Blyth, northeast England, and that Reeves assured Schwarzman that he supported the project.
“This says a lot about our planning system,” an aide to Mr Reeves told the paper.
Schwarzman’s house is a “listed monument,” an English legal term for a building that is of particular architectural or historical interest and deserves special protection.
According to the documents, the mansion was once owned by Sir Philip Meadows, a British diplomat who served as Oliver Cromwell’s ambassador to Denmark during Britain’s brief experiment as a republic.
According to the application, it became a shooting range in the 1850s and since 1991 has been developed into “one of the finest shooting ranges in the south of England”.
In addition to its newt-monitoring mission, the mega-funder was forced to submit a 124-page “bat occurrence survey” to comply with national wildlife conservation regulations that protect the nocturnal mammals.
“Under the Habitats and Species Conservation Regulations 2017, it is an offence to harm or disturb bats or damage or destroy their roosts,” the application said.
A “Barn Owl Mitigation Plan” has also been developed to provide nesting areas for the birds on the site.
Bureaucrats issued a bizarre order to Schwarzman last September to “encourage” local governments to use green energy sources in the fight against the “climate emergency.”
The renovation also required consultation with 10 government agencies and local residents before it could be approved.
The application states: “The carriage house and part of the north-west side of the stables have recently been altered and refurbished without listed building consent or planning permission.”
“Further unauthorised landscaping and building works are taking place on the north-west side.
“The changes show no regard for the historic building and its surroundings,” the company said.
The former Lehman Brothers managing director already owns a luxury home at 740 Park Avenue in Manhattan, a few blocks from the bank’s global headquarters.
