Azrieli Group buys Houston office

The roughly $108 million purchase is the latest transaction in a regional office acquisition spree by the Israeli investment firm. This marks the firm's first solo purchase in the US.


Following the purchase of a three-property office portfolio in the region with a joint venture partner, The Azrieli Group has purchased a Class A office property in Houston, representing the Tel Aviv-based real estate developer and investor's debut solo property purchase in the US.

Azrieli acquired The Plaza at Enclave from a joint venture between Core Real Estate and BayNorth Capital for $107.5 million, according to data provider Real Capital Analytics. The six-storey, 344,000-square-foot office building at 1254 Enclave Parkway houses Dow Chemical, which occupies 87 percent of the property. Ridgewood Energy, Petrosac and HRT America occupy the remaining 13 percent of the property. 

Shlomo Sherf, Azrieli Group’s chief executive, said in a statement: “This is an excellent business opportunity, which joins the other properties the group has purchased in this area in the past.”

Indeed, the closing of this transaction follows the purchase of three other Houston office buildings by the Azrieli Group this month. In addition to acquiring Galleria Towers 1 and 2 for $81.6 million, the firm also bought the Galleria Financial Center for $41.5 million. The purchase of that three-property portfolio was done through a joint venture between Azrieli and Beverly Hills-based Unilev Capital. A spokesman for Azrieli confirmed that the acquisition of The Plaza at Enclave marks the firm's first solo acquisition in the US.  

The joint venture initially developed the property in 2008. After completing the building and leasing of the asset, Core and BayNorth sold it to Azrieli.

Holliday Fenoglio Fowler marketed the property on behalf of the sellers and arranged financing for the buyer through Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, an investment subsidiary of MassMutual.