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Boston

Madrid-based firm pushes deeper into Boston’s office market

Azora acquires Back Bay property for $39M

Madrid-Based Firm Pushes Deeper Into Boston Office Market

A photo illustration of Azora Exan managing partner Ignacio Gil-Casares along with 801 Boylston Street in Boston, Massachusetts (Getty, LinkedIn/Ignacio Gil-Casares, Google Maps)

Real estate investors are trying to take advantage of the bottoming prices of commercial real estate, particularly in the office market. Foreign firms are crossing oceans to do the same.

Azora Exan, the direct investment arm in the United States of Madrid-based Azora, acquired an office building in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood for $39 million, the firm announced on Monday. Azora did not reveal the seller, but it was ASB Real Estate Investments, according to Traded.

The purchase of the 27,000-square-foot property at 801 Boylston Street breaks down to roughly $1,457 per square foot. A Newmark team including Robert Griffin and Edward Maher helped arrange the deal, according to ConnectCRE.

The five-story building is 91 percent occupied. The core tenant is Fidelity Investments, which has occupied space at the property since 1999. It occupies 55 percent of the property’s gross rentable space.

The investor was looking to “take advantage of the current market environment and dislocation between supply and demand, especially in the office and retail segments,” managing partner Ignacio Gil-Casares said in a statement. 

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The proof is in Azora’s activity in Boston. In August, the investment firm acquired 70 Federal St. from TIAA affiliate Nuveen for $41 million, according to the Boston Business Journal. The seven-story, 62,000-square-foot office building on Post Office Square includes a Fidelity Investments retail center on the ground level.

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Notably, that deal marked the first office building sale in downtown Boston since early 2022.

Azora entered the United States with the launch of Azora Exan at the end of 2021. In the U.S. alone, Azora manages $1.7 billion worth of office, retail, residential and industrial assets.

The Boston office market is in a challenging spot. In the first quarter, there was an aggregate 1.3 million square feet leased, according to a report from Avison Young, marking one of Greater Boston’s weakest quarters in recent history. Back Bay did record the second-highest averaging asking rent among Boston’s submarkets, but has an availability rate is beyond 20 percent.

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