Azora Private acquires student residence in Barcelona

Azora Private has purchased a student residence in Cerdanyola del Vallès (Barcelona) from a joint venture between LaSalle Investment Management and Urbania. 

Residencia Cerdanyola

The residence, which opened in September, spans 14,500 m2 and offers 610 en-suite single rooms, with 196 including private kitchens. It also has short-stay options for visiting professors, researchers, and professionals associated with local universities and businesses.
The project adhered to high sustainability standards, achieving BREEAM Excellent certification. The building boasts numerous communal amenities such as a gym, two swimming pools (one on the rooftop), a cafeteria, study areas, quiet rooms, a cinema, and meeting spaces, all designed to promote wellbeing and community living.
The residence is located in Parc d’Alba, a well-connected business district, conveniently close to Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (a ten-minute walk) and Esade (a twenty-minute bike ride). The area is also home to companies like Natura Bissé and Stradivarius, and the ALBA Synchrotron.
This acquisition is part of Azora Private's strategy to source opportunities and structure club deals with family offices. LaSalle's European value-add investments platform, in partnership with Urbania, developed and sold the asset. 
Azora Private has also recently advised on the acquisition of Mango’s logistics platform in Barcelona for €165 mln and made over US$120 mln (€110.4 mln) in logistics and office investments in the United States.
Ignacio Gil-Casares, partner at Azora Private, commented: “We are very pleased to add this PBSA asset in Barcelona to our portfolio, in a market experiencing strong growth driven by robust demand and structurally constrained supply. This acquisition reinforces our objective of supporting private investors in building globally diversified portfolios, leveraging our sourcing, underwriting and execution capabilities in key markets.”
Blake Loveless, head of Value-Add Investments, Europe, LaSalle added: “We're extremely pleased with this successful exit, which demonstrates our European value-add investment strategy in action. Having partnered with Urbania to develop this institutional-quality PBSA asset from the ground up, we've delivered attractive returns for our investors while creating a best-in-class student housing facility in a high-demand location.”
Jeffrey Sújar, managing partner of Urbania Living, commented: "We are very satisfied with the sale of this outstanding asset to Azora, which forms part of our planned divestment strategy with LaSalle IM. The project has met all our objectives, delivering a highly sustainable, BREEAM Excellent certified development that will become a benchmark in this high-demand university area."
Azora Private is a platform specialising in advisory and asset management services for private investors.